The Clairvoyant's Curse
by jadefirefly3D
Summary: On Halloween, Dipper and Mabel check out an abandoned and haunted mansion. That turns out to be a big mistake. When things go south, the twins are forced to confront their biggest post-Weirdmageddon fears and regrets as they fight to make it out alive. But their need to keep the other safe may be what gets them killed. Some h/c, sibling bonding and suspense. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

A/N Happy Halloween everyone! I was planning to post this like, a week ago and aim to be done by today but life keeps throwing stuff at me. Boo. Oh well, Halloween may only be one day a year, but the Halloween Spirit can last all year if you like spooky stuff and dressing up in costumes like I do. I think that if it were up to me there would be a Summerween and Winterween and Springween! Yeah! This one is going to be short(ish) and I hope to have it done by my birthday coming up in a little over a week. Fingers crossed.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter One**

"I can't believe we're doing _this_ instead of trick or treating," Mabel muses with a smile, glancing up at the spooky, abandoned old mansion on the outskirts of town. She glances at her brother and admires her handiwork on his costume, impressed with the subtle details she threw in for authenticity. "Can you imagine how much candy we could've gotten with these costumes?"

"You don't have to stay," Dipper offers with a shrug, smiling back at her.

"Phshsh," she scoffs with a wave of her hand, "are you kidding? I'm still in, this is the most exciting thing that's happened since… well, since we got home."

Dipper perks up, excitedly, "I know right? And on Halloween too! How perfect is that?"

"Well, it would be slightly more perfect if it didn't affect the acquisition of free candy," Mabel points out, running her tongue over her teeth, still marvelling at how smooth they feel without the recently removed braces.

"Well with any luck we'll still have time," Dipper says, " _maybe_. But again, you can go if you want, I don't mind. I know this isn't really your thing."

"Not the same without you broseph," she retorts, "you know that. I'd rather spend Halloween with you exploring a spooky old mansion than go trick or treating alone."

"You wouldn't be alone," Dipper chuckles, "I'm sure Noah and the others would still be down for picking you up and letting you join them. Plus I heard that Noah's going as Han Solo this year…" he teases with a sing-song voice.

Mabel blushes, not bothering to mention that was the _real_ reason she insisted they dress as Luke and Leia for Halloween, well that and the fact that it seems like such an obvious choice for brother and sister twins to dress up as, so much that it's shocking they hadn't done it before. But Noah's definitely her latest crush and when she heard in a roundabout way that he was going as Han Solo how could she not? Dipper of course needed no convincing so it worked out perfectly. But that was all before Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford filled them in on the spike in paranormal activity happening right there in their boring old hometown.

"Yeah well, doesn't matter," Mabel says with a pang of regret as she reminds herself that there are other ways she can impress her crush later, she promised herself that Dipper would come first from now on if it ever needed to be a choice and she's going to stick to that, "This might not be my favourite thing in the world, but I still enjoy it. I miss all the weird stuff about Gravity Falls, and nothing like this happens here. I don't want to wait until next summer for us to deal with something weird like this. It's too bad it has to conflict with Halloween though and…why is that again?"

"Ford says that if they don't deal with the ghost thing while it's still a non-threatening Level 3, it has the potential to get out of hand and become a legitimate threat to the town," Dipper explains, "and he said that there's no telling when that could happen so it's best to deal with it as soon as possible."

"OK well, I guess that makes sense?" Mabel shrugs, a little uncertain, "But how do we know it's not that strong already?"

"Well when I talked to Stan an hour ago he told me that Ford determined it's still a Level 3," Dipper replies, "and since their flight was delayed…"

"We're going instead," Mabel nods, "I'm a little surprised they said it was OK for us to investigate without them."

"You scared?" Dipper smirks, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "You really don't have to come in, you can still go trick or treating."

She rolls her eyes, "Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you I'm in? I'm not letting you do this alone…"

"It's just a recon walk through, no ghost hunting. I came prepared and we're protected anyway so I'd be fine," Dipper laughs clutching at the silver and glass vial filled with salt and other things on a silver chain around his neck hidden under his Luke Skywalker costume. Hidden under her white Leia dress Mabel has one that's almost identical. They were gifts from Stan and Ford that they acquired on their travels and found them to be effective at repelling spirits.

"Stan said it will make their jobs a little easier if I did a little prep work before they fly in in the morning." Dipper continues, perking up again, grinning from ear to ear in anticipation, "It's so cool that Ford and Stan are trusting me… _us_ with this but I mean it, if you want to go trick or treating with Noah, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine."

Mabel smiles at her brother, happy to see him so happy as he geeks out over the opportunity to assist Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan with their work. "I already said like, a billion times that I'm in and besides there's no way I'd really be able to enjoy trick or treating knowing you were here alone and not even Noah and his Han Solo costume could fix that. I'd feel a lot better knowing I'm here to watch your back," Mabel insists, by now she's got the impression that Dipper would rather she didn't come along, and she has a pretty good idea why but she's having none of that, "We're a team, remember? Mystery Twins for life, am I right?"

She holds out her fist and he grins, bumping her fist with his.

Dipper takes a deep breath, excited and slightly nervous, "OK, but even though this is only a Level 3, we should stick together. I've got your back too."

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Mabel giggles, "I think that's a given so let's go already. Maybe if we finish quickly enough we can still do some trick or treating later tonight."

"I don't know," Dipper muses, glancing at the huge mansion that's big enough to rival the place formerly known as Northwest Manor, "we've got a lot of ground to cover but who knows? Maybe we'll get the best of both worlds this Halloween."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Mabel starts skipping down the long, decaying driveway towards the old mansion and Dipper quickly follows along behind her, filling her in on the history of the place that he researched over the last couple of days when they first learned that Stan and Ford were coming to deal with the spikes in paranormal activity there.

The mansion had originally belonged to a wealthy family who owned a successful vineyard back in their day. For generations the Hartwell family and their vineyard thrived and were considered to be local royalty.

"They even had close ties with the Northwests by the way," Dipper adds as he tells the story.

The mansion hosted elaborate parties that could last for weeks and attracted guests from far and wide. Most of whom would come to see if Henry Hartwell's widowed daughter Elizabeth was truly the psychic medium she and her father claimed her to be. They hosted séances and psychic readings that held surprising accuracy and while skeptics tried to explain how she did it and prove her to be a fraud, none could.

During the prohibition, the Hartwells continued to thrive despite a majority of their wealth supposedly coming from wine production which had apparently stopped save for a small portion meant for communion at the local churches. While Henry Hartwell insisted it was because of wise business investments and Elizabeth's business as a fortune teller and medium, rumours started to spread about how they could've possibly managed to flourish while their local competitors went under. First there were rumours that they were closely tied to the mob, and then that they were practicing dark magic and devil worship. Elizabeth's abilities that had once been proclaimed as a divine gift were now considered the result of witchcraft.

The Hartwell's downfall came when Elizabeth's daughter Abigail tragically died from mysterious circumstances. Instead of showing their sympathy, the townspeople, their friends and acquaintances shunned them, accusing Elizabeth of murdering her own child for power. Devastated and heartbroken and unable to deal with her daughter's death and the scorn of the society that once loved her, Elizabeth committed suicide.

"How sad," Mabel murmurs as they reach the servants door in the back of the mansion where they finally find a way in. The main entrance had been boarded shut as well as the main storey windows, so when Dipper tries the servant's door and the rotting wood gives way, allowing him the chance to push the door open he lets out a little cheer.

"Henry Hartwell eventually killed himself several years later, coincidentally on Halloween, a few days after the market crash of 1929," Dipper continues as they make their way inside, "and with no heir the mansion sat dormant for several years before the property was converted into a hotel."

"So did people report spooky stuff happening?" Mabel asks, wondering why if there was a famous haunted mansion turned hotel in town, how did Dipper not know about it?

"That's the weird thing, I guess," he says, "because despite the dark history, and the fact that they discovered arcane books and relics that suggested that the Hartwell's indeed had practiced or were at least interested in Dark Magic and the dark arts, any reports of paranormal activity in the hotel were so rare that it's been considered clean."

"Yeah, you'd think that considering the history and all that stuff this place would be crawling with ghosts," Mabel turns on her flashlight as they make it down the long narrow stairway to the basement.

"You'd think," Dipper agrees, glancing around at the dank basement, "however one resource mentioned that a few locals of the time came and blessed and cleansed the mansion shortly after Henry Hartwell's death."

"Oh, well that explains it I guess," she chuckles, "so it's been free of ghosts until now."

"Pretty much," he shrugs, "Ford says that's one of the side effects of Weirdmageddon. Somehow, it's reawakened some of the spirits who had long been put to rest. One of the reasons Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford are so busy."

Mabel stops walking and her breath hitches as she's gripped with a momentary pang of guilt.

"You OK?" Dipper asks, noticing this and misinterpreting it as fear. He scans the room with his EMF meter but there's no sign of any ghosts or anything paranormal.

"Yeah, yeah," she waves him off, because he doesn't know, "I'm fine. So then what happened. I thought this place was a museum or something before it was abandoned, not a hotel."

"It was," Dipper leads the way through the basement as they find a way to the main floor, "when the hotel closed in the 1970's it remained empty for several years until it was restored back to it's former self and made into a local history museum that closed back in 2002."

Shining their flashlights through the darkness they could see they were in a large room with large wooden barrels and lots of wine shelves, some still holding wine bottles, but most of them are either broken or empty. Dipper sees a few doors and with his EMF meter in hand he starts towards them, hoping to find some stairs. Mabel wanders in another direction, distracted by what looks like a bunch of paintings or canvasses leaning against a wall.

"Dipper, check this out," Mabel says, pulling one away from the pile to see a portrait of a young man and a small child with golden curls and rosy cheeks. The painting is mouldy and ruined from time and lack of care, but it's also a nice painting, or would've been back in the day. She pulls it out and turns it around so Dipper can see.

"Must be Henry and Elizabeth," Dipper says.

"Where's her mother?" Mabel wonders out loud.

"She apparently died during childbirth."

"Sad," Mabel sighs, "I can't help but feel sorry for them, you know?"

"Yeah, except that there _was_ evidence against them found in the mansion after Henry's death that proved they might not be so innocent."

"Because they might have practiced magic?" Mabel scoffs.

" _Dark_ magic. Anyway, most of it is all speculation and stuff," Dipper shrugs, "nothing had been absolutely proven. Come on, let's find the way upstairs, I don't think there's any paranormal activity down here."

Mabel looks at a few more of the canvasses leaning against the wall and finds a creepy looking painting of a woman in a black veil with a black background. Through the lace veil the woman's eyes seem to glow as though the woman in the painting is looking right through her, deep into her soul. Met with a sudden and eerie chill Mabel startles, dropping the flashlight which rolls away from her, stopping next to one of the large wine selves.

"Mabel, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she chuckles awkwardly, "saw a creepy looking painting and dropped my flashlight. No big deal." As she goes to retrieve her flashlight she trips over something and tumbles forward falling into the wall which seems crack under her weight.

"You OK?"

"Yep, just a little bit of a klutz today," she laughs at herself, dusting off her white Leia dress before grabbing her flashlight. "My blood sugar's probably just low because of the lack of Halloween candy."

Dipper rolls his eyes with a chuckle, "Come on, if we hurry we still might have time to fix that problem. I think I found the stairs."

"OK," Mabel agrees, pausing when she thinks she feels a draft along the wall. She sees that she made the wall crack and pushes it making the crack deeper and feels a spine tingling chill as the cold draft gets stronger. Curiosity getting the better of her, she shines her flashlight through the crack in the wall but can't seem to see anything but darkness.

"What are you doing?" Dipper asks.

"Don't know, it looks like there might be a room back here or something," Mabel says, pushing harder on the wall to get a better look where she sees something shiny on the floor nearby, reflecting the light of her flashlight. Unable to resist shiny things she reaches into the hole with her hand to try and grab it but her hand brushes against another wall as she blindly feels for whatever caught her eye, "wait no, never mind it's— _ouch_!"

"What's wrong, what happened?"

"Nothing, just cut my hand on something," Mabel grumbles, pulling her hand out to see a bleeding cut on her palm. "Must've been a nail or broken glass or something. _Ow_!"

"Let's see," Dipper says, coming over to join her and hissing in sympathy when his light reaches the gash on her palm. It doesn't look like it's very deep or all that serious, but it's bleeding pretty badly, "Oh man, you cut yourself pretty good! Here," he says, taking off his backpack to pull out a small travel-sized first aid kit.

"You brought a first aid kit?" Mabel teases as they kneel down on the floor to let Dipper put his over-preparedness to work.

"Figured it wouldn't hurt since we'll be exploring a dilapidated and abandoned mansion," Dipper shrugs, "Nothing wrong with being prepared. Turned out to be a good idea too."

"I hope I didn't get blood on my costume," Mabel whines as Dipper dabs at the wound and wipes some of the blood away, frowning when more blood blooms from the wound. He presses a sterile gauze pad hard against her palm to staunch the bleeding as she releases a small moan, "Ow."

"Yeah because the costume is so important…must save the costume!" Dipper rolls his eyes even though he knows that she can't see it. The sarcasm rings loud and clear in his voice though.

"Hey I worked really hard on making these costumes perfect," Mabel huffs in defense, "though in hindsight, maybe making white costumes wasn't the best idea for a Halloween spent exploring a spooky old mansion instead of trick or treating."

"They still turned out really cool," Dipper grins.

"A worthy addition to my scrapbook!"

"Yep!" he replies, peeling back the cloth and frowning when he sees it's still bleeding. With her free hand Mabel shines the light on the wound and groans with annoyance.

"Aw man, and it's my sketching hand too! Drawing, writing and everything is going to be a pain!"

"Maybe we should get you home," Dipper says, "take care of this properly and then go trick or treating instead."

"What? We just got here and Grunkle Stan and Ford need us to do this for them!" Mabel protests, "It's not that bad, just…blargh!"

"I don't know…what if you need stitches?"

"I can tell you right now I do not need stitches," Mabel groans in annoyance, "Stop being Mr. Worrypants! I'm fine. It's no big deal."

He looks at the wound one more time and nods, breathing a shaky sigh, "Yeah, OK. It looks like the bleeding's finally slowed enough…"

"Yeah, see no big deal— _yeouch_!" She can't really see it in the darkness, so when Dipper suddenly sprays her hand with an antiseptic spray she flinches and hisses when it starts to sting. "Ow! You brought the stingy stuff too?"

"This place is old, do you want to get tetanus or something?"

"Touché, but warn me next time, bro-bro!"

"OK, Mabel I'm using the stingy spray, yes it will hurt," he deadpans, "better?"

"Warn me _before_!" she punches him lightly on the shoulder in retaliation as he laughs, but soon she's laughing too. It's much better than him worrying over something so trivial, especially when it comes to her. It's a complex he's always sort of had, but since Weirdmageddon it's only gotten worse and Mabel hates it because she knows it's her fault.

Dipper wraps her hand in gauze and satisfied with his first aid work he gets up, "That should hold for now. You sure you don't want to turn back?"

"Yes I'm sure!" she exclaims, letting him help pull her to her feet as she tries not to let his overprotectiveness annoy her too much. "You did a great job, feels better already! Now didn't you say you found the stairs?"

"OK," he sighs almost reluctantly but then he gains his resolve and is back to being excited about being a part of a paranormal investigation. "It's this way," he grabs his EMF meter, slightly disappointed but also relieved that it's showing no signs of ghostly activity so far, a reassurance because he's starting to feel a little creeped out somehow, like they're being watched, but it's good to know it's nothing more than his imagination. He holds the device out as he leads the way to the stairs he found. As they start to climb they both freeze when they feel a chill of icy cold air send a tingling sensation up their spines.

"Did you feel that?" Mabel asks in a whisper, afraid to look behind her. She senses something in the air that has her heart pounding and makes it almost hard to breathe.

"Yeah," he says with an uneasy shiver, looking at the EMF meter and still getting nothing. "But it's nothing to worry about, there must be a draft or—wait, oh crap, seriously?" he groans, slapping himself on the forehead.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm an idiot," he replies, turning the device on. Suddenly the lights and alarms whirl with activity and Mabel can see his eyes widen in surprise and terror.

"What does that…?"

"Move, move, move," Dipper hisses, pushing her ahead of him and urging her to hurry up the stairs.

Mabel dares to look behind her, first at Dipper and then past him where she sees a faint glow near the paintings she had found. Standing next to them is the woman in the black veil from the creepy painting. She's semi-transparent, revealing the crack Mabel made in the wall behind her, illuminated by her supernatural glow. She's pointing at them with a long bony finger and smiling, a wide, unnatural and sinister smile. Letting out a little shriek she grabs Dipper's hand and runs up the stairs, pulling him along behind her.

When they reach the top Dipper pushes the door at the top of the stairs and is relieved when it opens with ease. He pushes Mabel through, slamming the door behind him. They run through what looks like a simple hallway and keep going until they find themselves in an elaborate looking foyer. The EMF meter in Dipper's hands goes quiet and he breathes a sigh of relief.

"You forgot to turn your ghost detector thingy _on_?" Mabel exclaims incredulously, "I can't believe you didn't even turn it on!"

"Yeah, yeah, rookie mistake, I know but I could've _sworn_ I had it on!" he groans, "Whatever, it doesn't matter...we need to get out of here, like _now_."

"Why?" Mabel asks.

"Because my EMF meter was off the charts!"

"Meaning…"

"The ghost or ghosts haunting this place isn't a Level 3 anymore," he explains.

"So it's like a 4?" Mabel asks. Dipper shakes his head. "5? 6? 7?" Mabel guesses as he keeps shaking his head, "10?"

"Off the charts."

"So…11 then?"

"At least."

"Well," Mabel offers, "maybe she's a friendly ghost."

"Doubt it, especially if she was practicing witchcraft and dark magic."

Mabel nods, realizing it's silly to think the ghost would be friendly as much as she likes to believe that the Hartwells had been innocent in life. Even if they were, that doesn't mean they'd be nice as ghosts. Ford said that many ghosts over time lose the ethics and morals they might have had when they were alive, eventually morphing into dark entities that no longer resembled the people they used to be. Besides, the feeling she got when they were downstairs, subtle at first when she felt the draft in the wall but far more stronger when she saw the apparition as they were fleeing the basement, was terrifying. It was a cold, sinister and hopeless feeling, one she would like never to feel again. Despite trying to remain optimistic on the outside, Mabel knows she's only fooling herself. Even if the Hartwells were innocent victims of circumstance in life, as ghosts, they're definitely something to be feared.

"Maybe we'll get lucky?" she shrugs weakly with a crooked smile, hiding behind her humour and foolish optimism.

"This isn't funny," Dipper grumbles, coming across as irritated, but Mabel knows it's because he's scared too. "That apparition was off the charts and all my defense equipment Ford had me bring is useless against anything stronger than a level 8."

"What about these necklace thingies they gave us?" Mabel asks, pulling hers out from under her dress, "Shouldn't they protect us?"

"Yeah if we were dealing with a Level 8, sure, but not with whatever Level _that_ thing was!" Dipper sighs, "I don't understand what happened, I mean, Ford said that his readings showed as a level 3 just _hours_ ago. How did it get so strong so fast?"

"I don't know, bro-bro."

"Maybe…I don't know maybe it's a post-Weirdmageddon thing. Nothing really made sense then, maybe it's making the weird, paranormal stuff even more unpredictable and stronger now…"

Mabel swallows back her secret guilt and quietly places her hand on his arm, "Well, let's get out of here then."

"Yeah," Dipper sighs, checking his EMF meter again, visibly glad to see it's still on and not showing signs of ghost activity. "Well we can't go out the way we came in it looks like, so we're gonna have to find another way out."

"Good thing we found the main door!" Mabel declares cheerfully, gesturing to the large wooden doors in the foyer leading outside. "Maybe we couldn't get it open from the outside, but we might be able to open it from the inside!"

"Hope so," Dipper says as he unlocks the door and tries to push it open. Unfortunately, it won't budge thanks to the planks of wood boarding it up. He puts his body into it trying to get it to open but it won't work. Even when Mabel gets in there and they both try to ram into the door at the same time it still won't move.

Suddenly, just as they try to ram into the doors one more time to get them to open, Dipper's EMF meter goes off at the same moment they hit the door and are both pushed back by an unearthly force. They both fly across the room to land on the floor with a hard thump.

Mabel groans and reaches for her flashlight as Dipper does the same, "You OK?" Mabel asks.

"Yeah," Dipper releases a small moan of pain, "nothing's broken but _ow,_ gonna feel that tomorrow! You?"

"Same," she replies, rubbing at a sore shoulder. "Hey your ghost detector's not beeping anymore, does that mean she's gone?"

"Um…" he finds it with his flashlight and picks it up off the floor, "oh man, oh man oh man um...not necessarily. It's broken."

"Can you fix it?"

"I think so?" He doesn't sound so sure.

Mabel looks around but she doesn't have that same weird feeling she did in the basement. She climbs to her feet and reaches for the door, but stops when she feels a strange, almost electric energy. Like there's a force field blocking it. "I don't think we can get out this way."

Dipper stops tinkering with the broken EMF meter and joins her, tentatively touching and reaching an invisible barrier of energy, "Oh crap..."

"What?"

"We're kinda trapped."

* * *

A/N Hope you like the first chapter! Please leave a review to let me know what you think so far! Reviews are like candy, I'm dressing up as Stan this year so Trick or Treat!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thanks to my one and only wonderful guest reviewer! Made me happy to see it and I'm glad you like this so far. And also to those who have favourited and followed this, thank you too! Please leave a comment though, I would love to know what you think!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! I dressed up as Stan and handed out candy at work, there was a little girl dressed as Mabel and her baby brother was Waddles, they were so adorable! Their mom took a picture of us and the whole evening was so much fun! Halloween is definitely my favourite holiday with all the candy, costumes and scary movies and Halloween specials which are always my favourites (Summerween is a new Halloween tradition/classic for me, a must see along with "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" another favourite.) I might be too old for trick or treating, but handing out candy is the next best thing!

Anyway, I hope you like this next chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

"We're kinda trapped," Dipper runs his hand through his hair, "oh man oh man…"

"It's OK," Mabel reaches for him, holding out her hands, gesturing for him to stay calm, "we'll just find another way out."

"Yeah but we already looked when we were outside, everything's boarded up on this level and even if there was another exit not boarded up we won't be able to get through."

"So what do we do then?"

"We probably won't be able to leave until we deal with this ghost ourselves," Mabel can hear the nervousness creeping up in Dipper's voice.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Mabel says to help ease his anxiety, even though she realizes that it's probably not going to be easy, "you've been really good at this ghost hunting thing so far."

Dipper lets out a nervous laugh, "Somehow I don't think this ghost will be satisfied by an embarrassingly childish song and dance and Pacifica was the one who saved us all at the Northwest Manor, not me."

"Well, she couldn't have done it without you," Mabel points out, "and this time you have _me_. So what do we need to do?"

"We have to find out what she wants and if possible give it to her," he explains, "it's usually some unfinished business or something like that that keeps them here, but not always. And we might not be able to give her what she wants."

"So then what do we do if that's the case?"

Dipper sighs, "There are spells and exorcisms we can try, but I think she's too strong for that, we might be able to trap her in a silver mirror, that _might_ work but…if it doesn't it will only make her angry."

"We'll leave that as a plan B then."

"We're in way over our heads," Dipper laments.

"Not the first time and it won't be the last," Mabel shrugs, ignoring the incredulous look he gives her, "but you and me, we're an unstoppable team, remember? If we can handle Bill Cipher, we can handle anything."

There's a pause and then Dipper grins, "You're right, we _are_ an unstoppable team."

"So, you're the one who's over-prepared. Have anything in your backpack that can help?"

"I wouldn't say I'm over-prepared," Dipper sighs, "otherwise I would've been prepared for a level 10 but all I have is some stuff that's really only strong enough for a level 8..."

"Yeah, you said that already but maybe we can use that to buy time or something? Or maybe using a combination of stuff might work?"

"Maybe" Dipper sits on a bench by the door and rummages through his backpack, "if a ghost comes along we might be able to defend ourselves with some Holy Water...or we might just make her angry...actually everything in here might just make her angry."

"I guess we'll just have to find out what she wants and try and help her," Mabel shrugs.

"And hope she doesn't try to kill us in the process?"

"Yep. I'm thinking that if she's the ghost of Elizabeth Hartwell, maybe she just needs a friend. I mean she went through a lot when she was alive. Dead mother, dead husband, dead child and everyone hating her and blaming her…"

"A tragedy in life that is a perfect recipe for a vengeful and dangerous spirit."

"Or not," Mabel adds, "we don't know if she's dangerous or evil or anything."

"She seemed pretty evil down in the basement, she gave me a bad feeling, hopeless and terrifying, didn't she with you?"

"Yeah," Mabel concedes, "but maybe we're just misinterpreting her sadness, or maybe it's because she thinks we're just like the people who betrayed her in the past…"

"Maybe," Dipper sighs, but then he smiles, "you really do see the good in everyone, don't you?"

"You know it," Mabel grins back, "at least I try to. But if we try and show her that we just want to help, maybe this won't be so bad, even if she is at a level that's off the charts in strength."

Suddenly the temperature of the room drops and their flashlights begin to flicker and they both freeze. They huddle close together when their flashlights go out completely, bathing them in almost total darkness except for the faint glow of the moon outside peeking through the dusty boarded up windows.

"It's OK!" Mabel says, taking off her backpack to blindly rummage through it, "You're not the only one prepared!"

"What do you have?"

"Glow sticks if I can find them! Thought they would be fun while trick or treating!" Mabel exclaims, "But I can't see anything…kind of ironic. I need a light to find more light! I can't see a thing!"

Dipper moves in front of Mabel protectively, shaking his flashlight to try and get it to work but it won't do anything. "Me neither."

"Wait, I know! Use the Force Dip!"

"Huh?" Dipper exclaims, looking around for any signs of a ghost.

"Your light sabre."

"It runs on batteries too," Dipper says, grabbing the prop in his costume, "if it's something supernatural that made our flashlights go out then it might not…" he flicks it on and the room is bathed in an eerie green glow, "…work." He waves the light sabre around, and they both gasp when they see a dark shadow on one side of the room where the light can't seem to touch.

There's no distinguishable features to this entity other than its humanoid shape, but Dipper senses the same sort of dark, unsettling and ominous feeling as he did in the basement.

Keeping Mabel behind him as she rummages through her backpack, Dipper holds up his battery operated prop light sabre up as though it's the real thing, ready to fight the entity in front of them but it doesn't move, it just hovers, and though it has no discernable eyes, they both sense that it's watching them closely.

"Found them!" she declares, handing Dipper a couple of glow sticks with long strings attached to them to use as necklaces.

Dipper takes them without taking his eyes off the dark thing in front of them. He puts them around his neck but he doesn't activate them, he just holds his prop light sabre in front of him and gently pushes Mabel further back, urging her to lead the way out. She activates her glow sticks, providing a little more green and blue light and backs towards the exit that's not blocked by the ghost, pulling Dipper with her as she slings her backpack back on.

"When I say run," Dipper whispers, "run."

Mabel's about to answer but she feels an icy pressure on her injured hand that sends chills down her spine and a jolt of pain up her arm, "Dipper…" she manages to get out before she's pulled by the hand by an invisible source towards the dark shadow. She lets out a little shriek as she stumbles forward, crashing into Dipper as she's forcibly yanked forward.

"Mabel!" Dipper cries out, dropping his useless flashlight to catch her, grabbing her other wrist to pull her back.

Mabel fights the invisible force trying to pull her away, planting her feet firmly on the floor and pulling back, "Dipper…it…" she cries out, feeling like her arm is about to be torn right off from the sheer force.

"Let her go!" Dipper shouts into the darkness, dropping his prop light sabre to grab the wrist of her captive hand and lets go of her other hand and Mabel too grabs at her wrist to try and pull away. It takes the pressure of her shoulder, but now she feels like her hand is about to be yanked off from the wrist as she tries to fight the invisible threat.

Dipper tries to move in front of Mabel to shield her from whatever is trying to pull on her but he's pushed back by a similar force and knocked onto his back. The impact knocks the wind out of him and for a moment he can't move.

"Let go of me!" Mabel screams painfully, struggling to break free of the invisible grip on her hand and stay away from the dark thing still watching them unmoving. Her body jerks forward and she can't hold on anymore. "Dipper!" she cries as she's violently thrown across the room right into the clutches of the dark shadow looming on the other side of the room.

"Mabel," Dipper gasps, reaching helplessly for his sister who's now in the entity's dark grasp. Dark shadowy hands with long pointy fingers wrap around her throat, lifting her off the ground as dark wisps of shadows swirl around her, practically swallowing her in the darkness. Mabel's cries morph into desperate choking sounds as she claws uselessly at the ghostly hands strangling her.

"Mabel!" Dipper gasps, pushing himself up and scrambling to his feet as her arms go limp. Acting out of a desperate need to save his sister over logic, he retrieves his light sabre without really thinking about it and charges at the entity that has his sister in it's grip. He swings the prop at the entity yelling, "Let her go!"

The dark entity vanishes and Mabel falls to the ground, collapsing to her knees, coughing and crying and gasping desperately for breath.

"Are you OK?" Dipper asks wrapping his arm around her trembling body. She nods but she's still struggling to breathe, coughing and choking like she had just been rescued from drowning. Dipper's eyes widen when he sees the entity rematerializing a few feet away, "Come on, we have to get out of here," he exclaims, and Mabel nods again as she coughs. Since she's still shaken and weak from the attack he drapes her arm across his back and pulls her to her feet, supporting her weight when she falters faintly. Holding his sister upright he practically has to drag her as they run the opposite way out of the foyer, pushing through some large French style doors and into a large ballroom.

The ballroom is full of furniture shoved to the side of the room and covered in white sheets, and there are several doors that lead out of the ballroom. Dipper pauses a moment to take in the size and elegance to the room, imagining the types of parties it must have once held.

"Dipper," Mabel chokes out hoarsely, "it's following us."

He looks behind him and sees it hovering in the threshold of the French doors and keeps moving, dragging Mabel along with him.

The find themselves in another room and a second door leading out of it and they go through that door which leads into a room with two more exits, and more furniture covered in sheets. Dipper glances behind him and when he doesn't see the entity he leads Mabel to the tables and chairs all shoved to the side of the room and they crawl under what looks like a large dining room table so they can hide for the time being. He makes sure the white sheet is concealing them and then turns his attention to Mabel who's finally starting to catch her breath.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah," she nods, cradling her hand to her chest, "I think so."

Dipper would believe her if he didn't hear the pain in her voice. He turns off his light sabre to lessen the light under the table so the only light is coming from the green and blue glow sticks around Mabel's neck. "You sure?" he asks.

"No," she admits breathlessly. Dipper leans in close to examine her neck in the faint light finding a slight discoloration around her neck, but there's not enough light to tell how badly it's bruised. "It wasn't that it was choking me, it was…it was like it was sucking…all the air from my lungs…at the same time so not only could I not…breathe but…" she coughs again, tipping forward weakly but Dipper catches her by the shoulders to hold her up. "I should be…OK in a minute."

"Take as much time as you need," he soothes. Peeking from a gap between two of the sheets covering the giant table Dipper looks for signs of the entity but it's too dark in the room to tell. He pulls out his backpack and rummages through it, "Here, take this," he hands Mabel what looks like a letter opener, "I borrowed this from mom and dad without asking…"

"Rebel," Mabel coughs out with a teasing grin.

"It's made of silver," he explains, "you should be able to use that to fight any spirit long enough to get away if it tries that again. Hopefully."

"Thanks," she whispers.

"I should've grabbed these from my backpack the moment we first saw that ghost in the basement," he sighs guiltily, pulling out a water bottle filled with Holy Water, "Maybe it's not enough for an entity as strong as the ones we're dealing with, but it's something."

"Yeah," Mabel coughs, tucking the silver letter opener into a hidden pocket, "definitely better than nothing. Thanks broseph!" With her now free hand she massages her wrist with a slight grimace. She glances at the palm of her hand and frowns when she sees the gauze soaked with blood.

"I knew you shouldn't have come," Dipper laments, taking her hand to inspect the damage, "Looks like that cut reopened."

"And leave you to face that thing alone? I don't think so!" Mabel exclaims, and then glances at her hand, "I think the attack made it worse. It really hurts, my whole arm…now I know what the rope in a game of tug of war feels like."

"I don't have a lot of gauze left for your hand," Dipper says apologetically, as he unwraps it, "this will be the last of it." He uses the excess of her used bandage to press against her palm to slow the bleeding again as she lets out a small whimper, and he cringes at the sight of the bruising forming around her wrist, knowing that came from him.

"It's not your fault," Mabel tells him, sensing his guilt, "you were trying to save me. And you _did_ save me. With a toy light sabre."

"Who knew that would work against a ghost?" Dipper chuckles, but there's a manic underlying anxiety behind his attempt at levity.

"The Force is strong with you, young Padawan," Mabel jokes.

Dipper lets out a small laugh, appreciating her effort to break some of the tension but then he gets serious, "More like sheer willpower and determination. Two months ago I nearly lost you. Twice. I'm not letting that happen again."

"That's why you didn't want me to come, isn't it?"

"What? Why would you think I didn't want you to come with me?"

"You basically said so when you kept insisting I go trick or treating without you," Mabel rolls her eyes.

"Because I knew that's what you really wanted to do tonight," Dipper replies, "I was giving you an out."

"And yet you kept insisting even though I made it clear that we're in this together, Mystery Twin style," Mabel huffs.

"OK, maybe I was, _am_ , worried about something bad happening to you," Dipper admits, "but after Weirdmageddon, can you blame me? You were missing for four days; Bill Cipher was going to _kill_ you."

Mabel glances away guiltily, "But he didn't because of Grunkle Stan."

"Why do you always do that?" Dipper asks gently.

"What?"

"Every time I mention Weirdmageddon you act as though it was your fault."

Mabel stiffens, "Do we have to talk about this now?"

Dipper sighs, a little frustrated because they haven't really talked about what happened. In a way they both went on as though the world didn't nearly end, at least on the surface. But as time goes on it's becoming harder and harder to act like nothing happened. For the first week or so after they were still too happy that they succeeded and that Bill was gone and everyone was more or less OK to let the implications really sink in. But then they did and that's when the nightmares started.

Almost every night since, Dipper dreamt of that horrible week, and almost every night the dreams ended the same: with Mabel's death. If it wasn't the dream where he failed to save her from her bubble prison which Bill destroyed with her still trapped inside, it was the one where Stan was too late to stop Bill from killing her after he chose her with his game of Eenie Meenie Miney Moe of Death. And then there are the dreams where Bill comes back… those ones are the worst because it's not depicting a false history, but a future possibility. Maybe. Ford said that interdimensional demons are almost impossible to destroy forever, though the likelihood is that if Bill does return, it won't be for another thousands of years. Hopefully.

But it's not just Dipper who has the nightmares. Sometimes he'll wake up in a cold sweat only to hear his sister in the next room in the throes of her own nightmare. They'll help each other get back to sleep and ease their nighttime fears, but they never talk about it. For Mabel it's never the right time or she'll change the subject in a hurry, but to be fair, most of the time Dipper doesn't really want to talk about it either.

"It wasn't your fault. It was an accident, OK? The Rift was already cracking and you took my backpack by _mistake_. It could've just as easily have broken while it was in my possession, that wouldn't mean it was my fault and it doesn't make it yours," Dipper tells her, putting more pressure on the cut on Mabel's hand.

Mabel flinches and closes her eyes, a tear falls down her cheek, "Can we maybe discuss then when we're not hiding from some murderous ghost?"

"Yeah, but we're going to have to face it sooner or later."

"I know," she says quietly.

Dipper peels back the bloody gauze to look at the wound and his eyes widen at the sight.

"What's…?" Mabel starts to ask but then she too looks at her cut palm and gasps, "What the…?"

There's no longer one gash across her palm, there's another one now, another gash about the same length joining the first one to make a bloody V.

"It must have done that during the attack," Mabel muses.

"You didn't notice it?"

"I was a little too preoccupied…"

Dipper shrugs, not seeing any reason to argue with that logic, but he takes a shaky breath, panicking a little inside. He wraps Mabel's hand again, "There," he murmurs, "that should hold."

"Thanks. _Again_."

"Don't mention it," he leans in close, not liking how shaky she looks or how her voice is starting to get a little hoarse, "Are you feeling any better?"

"A little," she nods, smiling at him but in the faint light from the glow sticks around her neck, Mabel's eyes tell a different story, but he can't tell if the hurt in her eyes is from the ghost attack or the touchy subject of Weirdmageddon or maybe both.

"Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here," Dipper promises, taking off the protective necklace Ford and Stan had given him and Mabel and draping it over her head.

"Dipper, what are you doing?" Mabel asks, trying and failing to keep him from putting it on her.

"One protective necklace is obviously useless against these ghosts, but maybe if you wear both of them, they won't be able to hurt you again," Dipper explains.

"And what about you?" Mabel demands.

"Better one of us is protected than neither of us," Dipper shrugs, "I'll be fine."

"Dipper, I know you want to protect me, but not if it means sacrificing yourself," Mabel takes it off and hands it back to him, "I don't want it. Maybe one is useless, but it's better than nothing. I don't know how these are supposed to work, but what if the only reason you were able to get rid of that ghost and save me is _because_ we have them? Maybe they gave us a fighting chance."

Dipper sighs, knowing she has a point.

"I'm OK, bro-bro," Mabel continues, "stop worrying so much. It's going to give you wrinkles before you're twenty, I swear."

He chuckles at that, putting the necklace back on, "OK, OK, fine."

"So, what's the plan?" Mabel asks.

Dipper peeks through the sheet but doesn't see anything, nor does he have that creepy feeling of being watched, "I think we're safe right now, and I _think_ I remember how I can make a ghost trap…maybe. But I don't have what I need in my backpack. So much for being over-prepared..."

"OK so what do you need?"

"Do you have any chalk or markers on you by any chance?"

"Are you kidding?" she lights up, digging through her bag, "How long have we known each other?"

"Um, we're twins so literally our entire lives?"

"And yet you _still_ have to ask," Mabel teases pulling out a box of sidewalk chalk, "Silly goose! You of all people should _know_ that I never leave home without some emergency art supplies. I just so happened to do some sidewalk art today at school for Halloween."

"Mabel this is perfect!" Dipper exclaims.

"Thanks!"

"OK," he says, handing her the bottle of Holy Water, "I think I remember what the trap's supposed to look like, you keep watch while I draw, OK?"

"OK!"

Dipper peeks out into the dining hall again and tentatively leaves their hiding place. When he determines it's safe he motions Mabel to follow. She climbs out and watches around the room as Dipper draws a large circle on the floor and then adds some symbols inside the circle, like a crude but kind of creepy mandala. He pauses a moment as he tries to remember something, frowning when he sees he made a mistake and uses his hand to erase the markings.

Mabel occasionally watches her brother work as she watches for signs of a ghost and tenses when she feels a chill. "Dipper…"

"I think I almost got it," he says, "If I can just remember...oh yeah!" he scribbles another symbol onto the floor.

"Dipper…it's back."

He looks up from his handiwork, glancing around worriedly before following Mabel's line of sight, seeing the dark shadow forming in the threshold of one of the exits to the room. Mabel glances towards another door and gasps and Dipper looks to see the woman from the basement, presumably Elizabeth Hartwell. She points at them and the dark shadow glides closer to them.

Dipper scribbles furiously on the floor and pulls Mabel to stand beside him on the opposite side of the circle as the dark figure heading for them. When it reaches the circle it stops. Long arms bang on an invisible force field surrounding it, trapping it within the confines of the circle and they both cringe at an unearthly growl that fills the room.

The ghost in the black veil opens her mouth and screams, the twins both collapse, covering their ears at the sound as a powerful wind swirls around the room, pushing them back. Dipper glances to the side and sees an open door on the opposite side of the room as the ghost woman. He grabs Mabel's arm and pulls her with him as he tries to fight the wind and reach it but suddenly he feels a supernatural tug and he's yanked away from Mabel and lifted by a supernatural force into the air.

"Dipper!" Mabel cries reaching for him.

"Mabel get out of here!" he yells, pointing to the door. She looks behind her and shakes her head but before he can argue an incredible pain pulses through him. Like he's being struck by lightning or something and he let's out a scream, suspended in the air and writhing in pain.

"Let him go!" Mabel screams at the ghost, "Leave him alone!"

The woman in the veil smiles wider and Dipper feels like he's going to be torn apart.

"OK! I will!" Mabel snaps, "Just let him go! Don't hurt him!"

"Mabel what are you doing?" he chokes out when Mabel heads for the circle.

"Let him go first!" she hisses and Dipper suddenly drops to the floor with a hard thud. He wraps his arm around his stomach, feeling like he's going to throw up as he gasps for air, watching in disbelief as Mabel kneels down by the circle and with the sleeve of her dress erases part of the circle.

"What are you doing? No Mabel! Don't!" he begs but he's too late. The dark shadow of a ghost is freed and wraps it's arms around Mabel who struggles to get away.

Dipper tries to get up but his body won't cooperate, "Mabel!"

"Take that you non-corporeal Jerkface!" Mabel hisses, swiping at the ghost with the silver letter opener, brandishing it like a sword. It dissipates long enough for Mabel to run. She grabs Dipper's hand and pulls him to his feet and together they run into the next room but stop in their tracks when they see that unlike the other elaborate rooms on the main floor, this one doesn't have another exit to escape through, not even a window.

"Oh crap," Dipper says with a wince, still aching and weak from the attack as they twirl around to see the woman in the black veil standing in the threshold of the room, smiling her unnaturally wide and sinister smile. He holds Mabel's hand tighter, standing protectively in front of her as they back away from her.

"What now?" Mabel asks.

Dipper's about to answer but then the woman ghost raises her arms and he and Mabel both are lifted off the floor and pulled apart. When he's torn from his grip on Mabel's hand he reaches for her anyway, but it's useless.

The ghost glides closer to them and studies them a moment with hunger in her eyes.

"Please, leave him alone," Mabel begs, in the faint glow of the light around his sister's neck he can see she's crying. The woman turns to her, her eyes narrowing in fury. She clenches her fists and Dipper feels a pressure on his throat and he and Mabel both begin to choke. "You've…got it wrong!" Mabel gasps breathlessly as she struggles against the invisible hold around her throat, "We don't want…to hurt you! We…want to… help you!"

The ghost cocks her head curiously, and releases her fists, easing the tight grip around their necks. Mabel falls to the floor, collapsing to her knees but she looks up at her sincerely, "Yes, I mean it. I want to help you, just let us go."

"Mabel, what are you doing?" Dipper asks, still hovering in the air, "Is she speaking to you? What's she saying?"

"Wait," Mabel says to him in surprise, "You mean you can't hear her?"

Dipper shakes his head but Mabel turns her attention back to the ghost still holding him.

"What do you want?" she asks. There's a pause and Mabel nods slowly, "Let him go first." There's another pause. "I said let him go first!" she snaps with a ferocity that's rare from her.

Dipper's eyes widen at the one sided exchange he's seeing, and he doesn't like it. "M-Mabel…what are you…?"

His words are silenced when once again he can't breathe and the pain returns, pulsing through his nerves and making him scream in agony. This time it's worse than before and he's not sure how much longer he can last.

"Stop!" Mabel snaps, "Don't hurt him anymore!" A pause, "Fine! But stop hurting him!"

The ghost looks away from Mabel and flashes a crooked, sinister grin at him before she flicks her wrist and Dipper is tossed like a ragdoll into the wall. He collapses to the floor, coughing and shaking from the residual pain and weakness left behind from the attack.

"Mabel…don't…"

"It's OK Dipper," she says with a smile, trying to look confident and reassuring but Dipper can tell she's scared, "right now, she just wants to talk."

Dipper glances back at the ghost who looks him in the eyes as he struggles to move, determined to get to Mabel who's now on the opposite side of the room from him. He can see in the eyes of the ghost in the black veil a far more malicious intent.

"No…" he whispers, shakily pushing himself to his knees, wondering what exactly the ghost wants and what Mabel _really_ agreed to, unable to shake the feeling that she's walking right into a trap, "Mabel d-don't listen to her…"

The woman ghost glances his way, glaring at him as she waves her hand and Dipper's overwhelmed with weakness, his eyes going heavy as he sinks to the floor and everything goes black.

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading, please leave a review! It always makes my day and I always like to know who's all out there reading my stories. Any kind of criticism is welcomed and I would love to know what you guys think. Any thoughts or theories you'd like to share? You guys are the best! Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N WOW! Thanks for the reviews guys! RainbowsAndUnicorns, NovelDrew, Twiwrite in the Sky, RR, Guest(s), Situation71 and SpiritFighter208, thank you so much for the reviews! You guys are totally amazing and awesome! Also thank you to everyone who's reading, following and has favourited this story! I hope you enjoy this chapter! And Happy Thanksgiving to those who are from the USA!

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

"I thought I told you not to hurt him!" Mabel snaps at the ghost when she watches Dipper go limp on the floor, she rushes to his aid and finds him out cold but alive. His pulse strong and breathing normal, he's merely in a deep sleep, "Dipper, wake up," she nudges him. He groans but does not wake.

 _"Relax,"_ says the ghost of Elizabeth Hartwell, though her mouth does not move, _"I made a promise, your brother is fine. Now come child."_

"It's OK bro-bro," Mabel whispers, "I think I can get us out of here. Don't worry." She stands up and turns to face the spirit, who doesn't look as frightening as she did before, but there's something in her eyes that tells Mabel that she's still something to be feared. Mabel approaches her as she hovers over the table in the middle of the room.

The room is small compared to the other rooms they've explored so far, and unlike the other rooms the furniture, though still covered in white sheets are still set up probably the same way the museum had them arranged instead of pushed up against a wall. There's a bulge in the sheet covering the table indicating that it had been covered with some things still on it. At one side of the room is a row of chairs hidden under white sheets, and on the other side there's a fireplace and mantle with more candlesticks, some with small white candles still in them. On the wall above the mantle is a large frame hanging on the wall, but whatever is in the frame is covered with a large sheet, just like the furniture but this one is black.

Elizabeth waves her arms and the sheet flies off the table, revealing a crystal ball, a spirit board and empty candleholders as well as a few old looking books.

"This is where you held your séances and stuff, isn't it?" Mabel asks.

Elizabeth nods and one of the chairs set up at the table pulls away on it's own, _"Sit."_

"Um, yeah I'd rather stand thanks," Mabel declines, a little uneasy about what the catch is. She had told her that she wants to talk, to find out if she's sincere about wanting to help her, but Mabel knows there's got to me more to it than that.

" _I said SIT!_ " she snaps, and a ghostly wind swirls around her, pushing her closer to the table where an unseen force pushes her into the chair. Once she's seated Mabel can't move, as though she's been tied to the chair with invisible ropes around her wrists, ankles and chest. She struggles against the invisible bonds, but they only get tighter the more she struggles so she stops.

"What do you want with us?" Mabel asks warily as the ghost hovers around her, moving through the table, studying her curiously.

 _"You are in no position to ask questions, child,"_ she hisses, though her mouth still does not move. Mabel feels a chill run up and down her spine when she leans in close, her ghostly dark eyes meeting hers with a piercing stare of malice, _"You are the intruders. What is your purpose if not to bring harm?"_

"I…I told you, m-my brother and I are here to help…y-you," she explains.

The ghost of Elizabeth Hartwell studies her, " _Ah yes, you wish to help me, or so you claim. And truth be told, you already have, more than you can know, but I suppose not in the way you've intended."_

"Um…I have? How?" Mabel furrows her brow, confused, her hand twitching when the throbbing in her palm flares briefly with a sharp sting of pain.

She smiles, circling her once more, _"Your brother though, his intentions are not as pure, are they?"_

"Well, with um, all due respect Ms. Hartwell—do I call you that or can I call you Elizabeth or Liz, Lizzy…" Mabel gives out a little yelp when she feels a shock to her wrists, taking her by surprise as it moves through her body, like she had been jolted with a momentary surge of electricity. "OK, I'll call you Ms. Hartwell then? That better? Anyway, with all due respect, he's not exactly going to be nice to someone who tried to kill us."

" _Does a woman not have the right to protect her property? You are the intruders, need I remind you."_

"Actually, this isn't your property anymore. It belongs to the city I think," Mabel explains, but then she gasps with sympathy when it dawns on her that Elizabeth Hartwell might not be aware of her state of being, "Do you even know that you're dead? A ghost?"

 _"Do you think I'm stupid, child?"_ she demands angrily, and Mabel feels the pressure of the invisible ropes cinch tighter around her limbs and chest, " _You think I don't remember my own death day? I know what I am, and your brother has come to vanquish me!"_

"Not if we can help you move on!" Mabel snaps, wincing because it's hard to breathe with the tightness around her chest, her hands and feet are starting to feel numb. She lets out a small, strained moan before she blurts out in an attempt to placate the angry ghosts, "We can help you if you'd let us! What is it that you want? What do you need for us to help you?"

 _"What do I want? Do be free, of course. Free of this curse that's tormented me for a hundred years,"_ Elizabeth floats away from her to hover beside the mantle as Mabel's invisible binds loosen enough to restore circulation but not enough for her to really move.

"OK!" Mabel grins, shoving her fear aside to focus on the positives, "That's a start! What can I do?"

 _"You speak as though it would be simple,"_ she says, " _you seem sincere, but if you knew what I desire, what I hunger for, what I need, I am certain you would not be so eager to help me. Not without a little…persuasion."_

Mabel's smile falters and she swallows a lump in her throat, "W-why do you say that?"

 _"And why would you be? Considering what you know of my history?"_ she glances back at her coyly.

"Your history? I think what you had to deal with was sad," Mabel replies, "it wasn't fair what you had to go through."

To Mabel's surprise she laughs, _"And why do you say that?"_

"Well, uh, because you had to deal with such tragedy and instead of everyone showing sympathy or comfort, you were accused of witchcraft, people blamed you."

 _"And you think they were wrong? To call me a witch?"_

It's not so much the questions themselves that throw Mabel off, but the amused tone to her voice, a cockiness that makes Mabel doubt herself, making her wonder if maybe there is more truth to the nasty rumours about the Hartwell's than Mabel would've liked to believe. "Um…yes?"

 _"You're so naïve, child. It's rather adorable,"_ Elizabeth remarks, _"You know that I was once a successful psychic, did you know that many had tried to debunk my abilities only to convert into believers? No one ever walked out of a session a skeptic. True psychic abilities are rare, and I was the best. I_ am _the best. Would you like me to demonstrate?"_

"It's OK," Mabel shrugs nervously, "I believe you."

 _"Nonsense,"_ she smiles her creepy, wicked smile, _"you are my guest, and what kind of hostess would I be if I didn't offer a free reading? After all, you have given me so much already, and I believe you_ will _be a great help at freeing me of my curse—it's the least I could do to show my gratitude."_

"Or you could let me and my brother go?" Mabel flashes the most sweetest grin she could muster given the circumstances. But then something else the ghost had just said registers and she narrows her eyes, asking warily, "What do you mean, 'given you so much already'? I really haven't done anything yet."

Elizabeth ignores her, hovering over to Dipper to eye him curiously, _"There's something fascinating about you children. Both of you radiate a unique aura that's been marked by something so incredibly powerful."_

"What does that mean?"

 _"It's no wonder I feel so strong,"_ she muses, drifting back to Mabel. The chair across from Mabel moves away from the table and Elizabeth sits, staring Mabel in the eyes, _"Something with incredible power recently set its sights on you and your brother, hasn't it? You were under its spell for…about four days? Yes, that seems right."_

Mabel squirms in her seat, wondering how the ghost could possibly know that.

 _"And even though the spell has been broken, it's left a scar on your soul that will never disappear,"_ Elizabeth grins, _"you and your brother both have it, but it's different with you."_

"Um…different how?"

Again, Elizabeth ignores her, continuing as though Mabel hadn't spoken. _"And a mark like that is like a door that cannot be closed, and that, child, can be a gift or a curse, though most likely, both."_

"OK lady, you lost me…" Mabel frown _s._

 _"Never mind that for now, let's begin, shall we?"_

"Um…yeah, OK…"

 _"You are a sweet girl, aren't you? Always trying to see the good in people, even when the evidence amounts to otherwise. Be wary of your desire to trust the untrustworthy, for while it is a trait that can be a noble one, it's also one that could lead to trouble. In fact, it already has…hasn't it?"_

The first thing that comes to mind when Elizabeth says this is the incident with the portal with Grunkle Stan. But she was right to trust him and let go of the button, even though the evidence was indeed stacked up against him. If she pressed the button, they would've never met Grunkle Ford. But in the long run, it _did_ come at a terrible price…

"I follow my heart," Mabel says with a shrug, "and I believe that even bad people have it in them to be good if given the chance. Sometimes all a person needs is for someone to believe in them, to believe they'll do the right thing."

 _"Interesting…"_ Elizabeth muses, _"especially for one who has seen pure evil and what it can do."_

"What does that have to do with anything?"

 _"And even still, it appears you have not learned your lesson."_

"What's wrong with trying to see the good in people?"

 _"There's nothing inherently wrong with it I suppose, except that it has made you naïve and foolish, more open to deception. And that, as you have already experienced in your short life, can have dire consequences."_

Mabel closes her eyes, her mind bringing her back to that moment in the woods, and she inwardly shudders.

" _I see the guilt that haunts you. You are harbouring such a profound guilt, dear child, that one day, it will destroy you if you let it."_

Mabel flinches, turning her face away from her, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Elizabeth laughs, _"You know_ exactly _what I am talking about. No amount of penance will redeem you for what you've done. Worse still, you wish to keep your brother, your whole family and all your friends in the dark, preferring to let them believe you innocent when you and I both know that it's all your fault."_

"Look lady, why don't you just let us go and let me help you? You want to move on and be free, so let's just get to it, OK?"

 _"You are correct to not tell him though. He will never forgive you."_

"You don't know that!" Mabel hisses, "You know nothing about him!"

 _"Then why have you not told him? I know the answer. It is because you are selfish, selfish and afraid. Maybe he would forgive you in time, but you know that would change everything. He would never look at you the same, he would never trust you again and you might lose him. He may even regret choosing you over the apprenticeship."_

"How do you know all this?" Mabel asks with tears in her eyes as she takes in the ghost's words and finds no fault with them.

 _"I told you, I'm a psychic. A clairvoyant. I have a special gift; I can see beyond what most can. And my ghostly state helps me see much more clearly than I could when I was alive. I can see into your heart and soul, your past, present and sometimes even your future. And I see that while you desire happiness for yourself and those you care about, your good intentions only bring you trouble and pain for those you love, especially your brother,"_ she smiles at her wickedly, _"am I wrong?"_

"You…you're…the last thing I want to ever do is hurt my brother or my friends and family, or anyone for that matter!" Mabel cries.

 _"And yet you did. You are a sweet girl, I know you didn't_ mean _for anything bad to happen, but the fact remains, because you were too selfish and too naïve to think about the consequences of your actions, you made a deal with a devil, didn't you?"_

"That's not…that's not what happened."

 _"I see the mark of your deal all over your soul, Mabel Pines, just as I see the mark on your brother's for the deal he too once made. A mistake both times, I'm sure, but it doesn't change the reality of it. The difference is that his judgement was clouded by exhaustion and desperation, he didn't have the support or help of his sister to back him up but you? You were motivated by purely selfish desires to keep everything the same, to keep things the way_ you _wanted it, isn't it? You were afraid, yes, afraid of growing up, afraid that your brother would leave you behind, afraid of what the future may hold. So afraid that you allowed yourself to be deceived. Foolish girl. Foolish, selfish girl…"_

"That's enough!" Mabel snaps, "I don't need you to tell me what I already know! It's a reality that _haunts_ me, yes, you're right about that. I know I was wrong! I made a _mistake,_ but I learned from it, OK? I _learned_ from it! I'm never letting it happen again!"

 _"And yet you're destined to make the same kind of mistakes over and over again,"_ Elizabeth smirks, _"you are destined to only cause the people you love pain."_

"Liar," Mabel hisses, wishing her hands were free so she can wipe the tears falling down her cheeks, "I told you, I'm not letting it happen again."

 _"Of course you won't do it on purpose, just as you had never intended to start an apocalypse…"_ Mabel's breath hitches at her words and their accuracy, Elizabeth's grin widens, _"but I can see into your future and that is what I see. Pain for your loved ones, all because of you."_

"Why are you telling me this?" Mabel demands angrily, "You seem to be enjoying this, what is your _deal,_ lady?"

 _"I can help you, if you wish."_

Mabel furrows her brow, "Is that…? Is that your unfinished business? Will helping me help you move on?"

Elizabeth laughs, _"In a fashion. But you'd be naïve to think that's all there is to it. By helping me, I will in turn help you."_

"And what is it that you want from me?"

 _"There is a spell, a spell that can set me free from the curse that plagues me. But in order for it to work, I need a sacrifice."_

"A sacrifice? What kind of sacrifice?" she asks warily, pushing back away from her as best as she can under her bonds.

 _"A_ willing _sacrifice, that part is key."_ Elizabeth leans forward, staring into Mabel's eyes, _"For the spell to work I need your blood, your body, your mind, your soul. So, Mabel Pines, are you willing to sacrifice yourself for me?"_

Mabel nearly chokes on her own saliva from shock, though in a way Mabel figures she shouldn't be too surprised at this point, "Excuse me? No way am I doing that!"

 _"Not even for your brother's freedom?"_ Elizabeth raises a brow, _"I figured you would need a little persuasion, so I will make you an offer. You help me, I will let him go unharmed."_

"Thanks but no thanks. If you know all this stuff about me, then you know that my brother and I faced something far worse than you…ahh!" her words are cut off when a jolt of pain courses swiftly through her body, taking her by surprise. Her body tenses as it moves through her nerves, like electricity, and she releases a cry of pain but as quickly as it starts the pain stops, leaving her catching her breath.

 _"That is nothing compared to what I am capable of. If you do not agree, you and your brother both will suffer greatly because of it,"_ Elizabeth warns, her ghostly essence darkening to take on a more threatening form.

"No, you promised me you wouldn't hurt him any more…"

 _"I don't have to. I simply won't let you leave, keep you as my prisoners, watch him slowly starve to death..."_

"You underestimate him, he'd find a way out, he'd find a way to defeat you. You're _nothing_ compared to some of the other things we've faced!"

Ignoring her Elizabeth continues, " _Meanwhile, I will force him to watch as I torture you. Torture you until you're_ begging _me to end your life. Then I will ask again, 'Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for me?' only I won't ask you, I will ask_ him. _"_ She points in Dipper's direction and Mabel can see him slowly starting to stir. " _I don't even have to read into his mind to know his answer once he knows saying yes would mean your freedom."_

Mabel swallows hard.

 _"And how many times has he had to sacrifice himself for you already? All the things he's given up for your sake, his time, his happiness and once in a lifetime opportunities…? What did he have to suffer to rescue you from your hedonistic prison? What did he have to sacrifice to get you to agree to come back? Even tonight, the things he did to protect you, to try and save you and keep you out of harms way…we both know he would die to protect you."_

"Shut up," Mabel whispers, "just…shut up! You're just trying to trick me, but it won't work! I'm not going to surrender and sacrifice myself, not for you."

 _"But will you for him?"_ she asks, grinning wickedly, gesturing his way without taking her cold eyes off Mabel.

Mabel hesitates, blinking back tears as she glances towards her brother and then back at the ghost, shrinking away under her piercing gaze, not knowing what to do.

 _"I'm giving you the chance to redeem yourself. You've committed a horrible sin that brought pain to so many people that you care about, you caused your brother so much pain, and you're destined to make the same foolish mistakes born of good intentions that will hurt him, over and over. But I can help you break that cycle, I'm giving you the chance to do something selfless that will help not only me but_ save _your brother's life_ and _soul,"_ Elizabeth looks her in the eyes and places her icy hands on Mabel's wrists, and her touch is so cold it burns.

 _"So I will ask you again, are you willing to sacrifice yourself for me?"_

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading and making it this far! Please leave a review, not only would I love to hear what you think, but it's also cool to know who's reading this! All constructive criticism, thoughts and theories are not only welcome, but encouraged!

Next chapter will feature more of Dipper for those missing him this time around.

Until next time my dear readers!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Well, it's almost Christmas and here I am still working on my Halloween story. Meh, if Christmas stuff can start so early that it overlaps with Halloween, then Halloween can overlap Christmas darn it! (I'm working on a Christmas story that I hope to get up before Christmas but knowing me it might be ready by Valentine's Day lol) Anyway, to everyone who is reading/following and has favourited and especially reviewed this story, thanks so much! Y'all are AWESOME!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

The ghost's question hangs in the air a moment as Mabel lets her words settle in as tears fall down her face. Her wrists hurt from her touch, and the icy burn is starting to spread up her arms sending a chill to rush through her, painful and deep. She closes her eyes and releases a pained sob, not knowing what to do.

She feels so stupid to let the ghost get to her, for agreeing to 'talk'. At first Mabel had thought that all Elizabeth needed was for someone to listen to her, sympathize with her and be a friend when she had none. But now she knows better. Elizabeth is evil and needs to be stopped. Who knows what she has in store for Mabel if she agrees, or Dipper if she manages to get to him? And who knows what she'll do if she is set 'free'.

 _"_ _Well?"_ Elizabeth asks, letting go of her wrists and leaning back, folding her arms to glare impatiently.

Mabel hesitates, watching Dipper go from slightly restless to still once again, but she can tell he's close to waking up. She looks back at Elizabeth, undecided. The ghost is strong, like, off the charts strong, and crazy, scary and far more evil than Mabel was originally willing to believe, and the worst is that Elizabeth is right about her. Mabel did something horrible, even though she never meant to, it _did_ lead to horrible consequences. Maybe she deserves this…for Dipper's sake.

But on the other hand, as strong as this ghost is, she and Dipper had already faced something far worse, and far more powerful and won. They could do it again. Together they helped defeat Bill Cipher, they helped save the entire world and in the end everyone was OK, even Grunkle Stan recovered. If they can do that, they can do anything.

Mabel takes a deep, shaky breath forcing herself to calm down and be strong, despite the emotional turmoil raging within her, and glares at her, "Sorry, but if you can read my mind and stuff, then you should know that I no longer make deals with evil buttfaces like you!"

Elizabeth glowers at her a moment before the pain starts up again. Mabel cries out as her muscles spasm and for a moment Mabel can think of nothing but the electricity flowing through her veins, attacking every cell in her body. When the pain stops Mabel slumps in the chair as much as her invisible restraints could allow, breathless and weak.

"That…all you g-got?" Mabel asks defiantly, hating this entity that has managed to dig into her mind and soul and expose her deepest fears and regrets, aggravating fresh wounds that haven't had a chance to heal. She'd take physical pain over that. She's not going to give the stupid ghost the satisfaction of manipulating or torturing her into submission.

She has to believe that she and Dipper _will_ figure out a way to defeat her. Somehow. She just has to hold on and stall long enough for Dipper to wake up. Once he's back in the game, they'll be unstoppable.

 _"_ _No,"_ Elizabeth replies, grinning wickedly, her ghostly essence flickering and fading ever so slightly. _"But insult me again, and you_ will _regret it."_

Mabel narrows her eyes suspiciously and feels the tightness of her bonds loosen slightly, allowing more movement but still keeping her restrained to the chair. "Fine, but no way are you going to use me _or_ my brother as some sacrifice. Not going to happen."

 _"_ _You think that because you managed to subdue the One-eyed Beast that you can defeat me?"_ Elizabeth laughs, _"Such a foolish girl. You can't even begin to imagine how wrong you are."_

"Oh yeah? Something tells me you're all talk," Mabel hisses, goading her on to test a theory, even though she knows it's most likely a colossally bad idea. But she needs to buy time and despite the emotional turmoil raging within her, Mabel does not want to show how much the ghost managed to get to her so she puts on her best brave face and continues, "You're all talk and no substance. So you know a few tricks, big deal. Compared to what I've seen over the summer, you're not that interesting, _or_ threatening. Nice try, but I'm not going to give in to you, and neither is he."

 _"_ _And once again, you're wrong. I knew you were coming, for a hundred years I knew someday you would come, and you would surrender. And now here you are, the one I was promised."_

"There you go again with the talking! You think because you can get inside my head you have me all figured out and think you can trick me, but it's not going to work! You should know how stubborn I can be, so forget it. You must've mistaken me for someone else."

Mabel glances back at Dipper, wishing he would hurry and wake up already, but he's taking his sweet time, probably because of the spell Elizabeth put on him to make him sleep in the first place. But there is movement, more signs of waking so Mabel swallows her fears and uncertainty to stick with testing her theory, because if she's right, this will help Dipper get the upper hand.

 _"_ _Oh my dear, don't you understand? We share a bond,"_ Elizabeth taunts, moving to stand behind her to place her hands on Mabel's shoulders, her cold touch burns, and the frosty heat moves through her shoulders and down through her body making her tense and bite her lip to keep from crying out. _"I saw you, I saw you that day as my enemies tried to put me to rest. A gift, a promise from my master."_

"Y-your m-master?"

 _"_ _Such a beautiful young girl, already prepared for the alter, dressed all in white, her white gown a symbol of purity and willingness for sacrifice…"_

"This? This is a Halloween c-costume!" Mabel exclaimed through gritted teeth, trying to ride through the pain brought on by her touch, "My costume has nothing to do with this crazy mumbo-jumbo y-you're talking about!"

 _"_ _Doesn't matter, this is what I saw in my vision all those years ago as I fought to remain in this realm, while my enemies tried to exorcize my spirit out of my home,"_ Elizabeth explains, _"and you're better than I could possibly imagine."_

"Me?" Mabel scoffs, straining to turn and look at her, "You saw _me_?

 _"_ _Yes."_

Mabel lets out a triumphant "HA!"

 _"_ _I beg your pardon?"_ Elizabeth exclaims, moving back in front of her, studying her curiously as Mabel's reaction clearly took her off guard.

"Then you have no reason to want my brother? Right? So why don't you just let him go? You don't need him, do you? You only need me, right?" Mabel says, hoping that she can convince Elizabeth to let him go because if anyone can defeat her and get Mabel out of this mess, it's Dipper.

" _Are you sure? Because I saw him too, just as clearly as I saw you. You both were there and you both have such potential…better than I could have imagined. You were both touched by darkness recently, and that leaves a mark. You both possess this hidden…_ power _, that I cannot wait to wield."_

"What are you talking about?"

 _"_ _But you…"_ she continues, ignoring her, " _yours is unique, and so very strong. There's so much potential in you, more than you could even begin to comprehend. A pity for you—_ both _of you, but for me, a goldmine."_ She laughs, _"But you're right. While you both could serve my purpose well, I_ do _only need one of you. And you are indeed my first choice…besides, you're the one who has already set the wheels in motion…"_

"How?" Mabel exclaims in exasperation, "You're making no sense, lady!"

Elizabeth grins and takes Mabel's wrist, firmly turning her hand over to reveal her injured palm, a blotch of red seeping through the bandage. Mabel looks at her hand and then back at Elizabeth and tries to pull her hand away, but her grip is strong.

 _"_ _One of you_ will _be my sacrifice. If not you, then_ him, _"_ she points to Dipper without taking her eyes off Mabel, _"Ultimately, it makes no difference to me. Surrender, free me from this cursed state of being. If not for me, then for your brother. You want to protect him, don't you?"_

"Let him go, and then maybe we'll talk," Mabel hisses, finally succeeding in yanking her hand out of the ghost's grip.

 _"_ _I just need you to tell me that you are willing,"_ she continues, both pleading and demanding, _"Surrender to me now and your brother will be free to leave and I will not harm him. If you don't,_ he _will be the one to ultimately suffer in the end. Is that what you want? Time and time again he has been the one to sacrifice so much of himself for your sake, don't you want to break that cycle? Isn't it time to return the favour?"_

Mabel turns away, blinking back more tears. She hates that this ghost knows what to say to manipulate her, although is it manipulation when she speaks the truth? But she can't give in. She says that Mabel's destined to cause her brother nothing but pain, and she hopes that Elizabeth was lying when she said that, or that she's wrong, because that's the last thing she'd ever want to do. But she knows Dipper and after everything they had been through, she knows that nothing would hurt Dipper more than if she were to die, especially if it were for him.

Dipper looks like he's going to wake any moment, she can hear a faint groan and he's growing more restless, she just has to stall a little longer. They're both going to get out of this one, Mabel will see to that. She just hopes that they'll both make it out in one piece, or at least that he will. If Mabel's not mistaken, Elizabeth is growing weaker the more she uses her powers. Is she weak enough that Dipper can get the upper hand and defeat her, or at least subdue her enough for them to escape?

Knowing that it's probably a really, really bad idea, knowing it will make her angry, but hoping that it will weaken her enough, Mabel snaps, "Listen lady, how many times do _I_ have to tell _you_ that I'm not going to give in to a stupid, crazy witch ghost! You're an _idiot_ if you think…"

Mabel's words are cut off by her own screams when the ghost grabs her at the temples and sends an intense blast of electrical energy in through her skull and through her body, that added to the icy burn of her touch, and the supernatural wind forming around them, acting like a vacuum, stealing the breath from her lungs, it's more than she can bear.

 _"_ _I've tried to be nice but you have tested my patience. I will ask you one more time, you insolent little girl! Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for me?!"_

Mabel can't answer, the pain is too much this time around and she can't stop screaming, nor can she breathe. Her lungs feel as though they're on fire, hungry and desperate for air. And through the pain, she sees flashes of white until the flashes turn to images, like a slideshow of old fashioned photographs blinking rapidly behind her eyelids, moving far too fast for any of them to register.

"Mabel!" she can hear Dipper's voice through the darkness, "Let her go! Please!"

"D-Dip…" she chokes out, feeling herself fading and losing her grip on consciousness. She feels oddly weightless somehow, but then it registers that Elizabeth has lifted her of the ground and they're both hovering, the supernatural wind surrounding her keeping her airborne.

"She will die unless you agree to one small thing," Elizabeth hisses, her voice sounding odd to Mabel, but for the first time her mouth is moving as she speaks, and Mabel realizes, even on the brink of possible death that the whole time she had been hearing Elizabeth's voice inside her mind somehow, which would explain why Dipper couldn't hear her before.

"Anything! Whatever you want, just let her go!"

"N-no," Mabel gasps, her vision fading to see white stars in the darkness, "D-Dipper…d-don't…."

"Are you willing…"

"Stop!" Mabel chokes with her last ounce of strength, knowing what Dipper would say if she finishes her sentence, "I…I'll d-do it…"

The wind dies down enough for her to breathe again and they both sink to the floor, but the only thing keeping Mabel upright is Elizabeth's firm grip on her head as she looks her in the eyes, _"You will?"_

"J-just let him g-go," Mabel whispers.

 _"_ _Say it, say you are willing. I need you to say you are willing."_

Out of the corner of her eye she can see Dipper reaching into his bag for something. Trusting in Dipper Mabel nods, trying to keep Elizabeth's focus on her to keep her distracted from whatever Dipper has planned, noticing the entity flicker and fade once again, "I…I a-am willing…"

Elizabeth grins her wide, unsettling and creepy grin, _"Excellent. He is free to go. Now come with…"_

She's cut off when Dipper charges, dousing both her and Elizabeth with Holy Water. Elizabeth hisses as she momentarily dissipates, releasing Mabel who drops to the floor, completely spent. By the time Elizabeth takes form again, Dipper is standing between her and Mabel, brandishing one of the silver candlesticks from the table like a sword, forcing her back.

"NOT!" Mabel adds, with as much strength as she can muster, blowing a raspberry.

"Stay away from my sister!" Dipper snaps, rushing to the mantle and yanking the black sheet off the frame on the wall, revealing a large mirror in a silver frame. Letting out a surprised and relieved chuckle he begins to chant something and Elizabeth begins to flicker once more, a strange light pulling her toward the mirror.

 _"_ _Too late, child,"_ Elizabeth glares at her as the light pulls her towards the mirror against her will, she outstretches her hand and Mabel feels an invisible tug on her injured hand, forcing her to reach back for the ghost, _"This won't hold me forever and you agreed…"_

Realizing that Elizabeth is trying to force her to shake on it, Mabel cries in alarm as her whole body is moving against her will, dragging across the floor towards the spirit, who is fighting Dipper's spell with everything she has. "Dipper!" she cries. He drops to the floor and catches her by the waist but doesn't stop chanting as he tries to pull Mabel away. He manages to slow them down, but ultimately he only ends up getting pulled with her.

Meanwhile Elizabeth, her spirit now partially trapped in the mirror reaches desperately for Mabel's hand but Dipper finishes the spell and just before their hands can touch, the spirit is sucked into the mirror with a loud scream.

The supernatural pull on Mabel's hand is released once Elizabeth is trapped and Mabel gulps in air breathlessly as she collapses weakly to the floor, lightheaded and faint.

"Are you OK?" Dipper asks.

"I…I think so?" Mabel murmurs quietly, depleted of strength.

"We have to go, there's no telling how long that will trap her," Dipper says, "Come on." He helps her to her feet and half drags, half carries Mabel out of the room. He takes the chalk and draws another circle at the door as Mabel collapses to her knees, still struggling to catch her breath, her whole body aching as though she had just run a marathon while she simultaneously lost a wrestling match. "Chances are if she gets caught in this trap it won't hold her for long, but we need to do what we can to slow her down. I don't know how long that mirror will hold her, honestly I'm surprised that worked at all."

"W-weakened her," Mabel whispers.

"What? The Holy Water? Actually, I'm surprised that worked too…"

"N-no, I… I think when she was… attacking me…" Mabel manages to say, sinking further to the floor, dizzy and weak. She blinks heavily, struggling to keep her eyes open, "A-all part of m-my b-brilliant plan! H-how…d-did you know that was a m-mirror?"

"Took a chance," he replies, not really paying much attention to her, too focused on getting the circle drawn properly, "that was the only thing not covered by a white sheet. There's an old superstition about covering mirrors with a black cloth, not really a thing here, but in the south east states like Louisiana… Mabel?"

He turns to face her when she releases a whimper that breaks his concentration. She's on her knees, slouched over on the floor with her hands burying her face. He stops what he's doing and kneels beside her, placing his hand on her back, "What's wrong? What happened? What did she do to you?"

She shakes her head, "I…I don't want to talk about it. I-I'm OK…"

"No you're not," Dipper sighs sympathetically, "she did something to you, I _saw_ her hurting you. What did she do?"

"Can we just get out of here?" she breathes tiredly, "I'll t-tell you all about it then."

"Yeah," he nods in agreement, "Can you walk?"

She nods, "Yeah, just need a minute. I'm fine, just a little achy and shaky…heh, that rhymes…" she wipes away the tears from her face, forcing a smile.

Dipper rolls his eyes, despite his worry, taking her amusement in the little things as a good sign, "Yeah, yeah, you're a poet."

"Don't I know it!" she chuckles, though even in the darkness he can see the smile and hint at silliness is all an act. But he won't call her on it, because he gets it.

"OK, let me just finish this circle," Dipper says, "you take it easy and maybe keep watch for that other ghost."

"On it," Mabel nods and Dipper gives her a pat on the back and gets back to work.

He's honestly not sure how long either trap would hold the ghost, because even if her attack on Mabel did manage to weaken her enough to give them the upper hand, there's no telling on how long it will last. Her strength had been off the charts, so nothing he can do will hold her for long. And at her strength, it's possible that she's no longer confined to the mansion, which was exactly what Stan and Ford were trying to prevent.

If that happens, Dipper's not sure of what he'll do, especially considering this ghost seems so fixated on Mabel. He _knew_ he shouldn't have taken her along! Maybe they both should have just gone trick or treating and let Stan and Ford deal with the haunting themselves when they get here tomorrow. _They're_ the experts. They were wrong to trust him with this. He and Mabel went in unprepared, he acted like a total _amateur_ forgetting to turn on the EMF meter, though he could've _sworn_ he turned it on! He remembers doing it but he must have just turned it off by mistake instead or something. All he's been good for so far is putting Mabel in danger.

"Bro-bro, it's not your fault, OK?" Mabel cuts into his thoughts, "So don't be blaming yourself, I'm a big girl who _chose_ to come along and I am _fine_. Well, much better than I was a few minutes ago…"

Dipper turns to her in surprise, wondering how she knows what he's thinking, "How…?"

"I _know_ you. Better than anyone," Mabel replies, "and you think too loud."

He takes her uninjured hand and pulls her to her feet. She sways unsteadily a moment, and he grabs her shoulder to hold her steady but then she shakes him off and nods with a small, weary smile. "Come on, let's get out of here, broseph."

Dipper nods, returning the grin, despite the worry and uneasiness keeping his nerves on edge, "Sounds like a plan."

Meanwhile in the mirror, Elizabeth tries to get out but is met with the same kind of barrier the twins had when they tried to get out the main door. She curses angrily but then grins as a plan takes form. She may be trapped in the mirror for now, but she can work with this. Sure, it limits what she can do, making her job harder, but there are advantages as well and the boy is right to say that it won't hold her for long.

Besides, the girl agreed. Of course that wasn't her intention, it was all an attempt at trickery on her part but it was all for nothing. All she needed was for the girl to say the right words in the right order, what came after does not matter. There's no taking it back.

She had said it, so now there is no escape. And because she tried to trick her, Elizabeth no longer has any obligation to keep her end of the bargain, making the boy fair game.

They may think that because they helped defeat her master, that they could do anything. But they have no idea how wrong they are.

Soon enough she will be free. From both the mirror as well as her ghostly state of being. Then they'll pay for what they did. All of them.

* * *

A/N Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know what you think! Thoughts, theories and criticisms are all welcomed!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Sorry for the delay! This chapter had a million and one rewrites before I felt that it was passable and RL and my health has been a real jerk, keeping me from being able to properly focus on my writing. I'm trying really hard to get these chapters updated faster, but RL keeps getting in the way, but I haven't given up! Your patience is very much appreciated. Thanks to all my reviewers and to those who have added this to their favourites/follows lists! Means a lot! Special shout-out to goji1995 for reviewing every chapter. Thanks so much! I hope this chapter continues to entertain and intrigue. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

With his battery powered light saber prop held out in front of him, casting the room in an eerie green glow, Dipper warily leads the way back towards the basement where they first came in, anxious to get out of the mansion as soon as possible. Anxious to get _Mabel_ out of the mansion as soon as possible. To say he's worried about her would be an understatement.

He has no idea how long he was out for, or what Mabel went through while he was unconscious but whatever happened, it affected Mabel far more than she's letting on. Despite quietly assuring him she's fine, he can tell, even in the darkness, that she's not fine at all.

Physically she seems to have recovered from the ghost's attack, at least enough to be able to pull her own weight, but he knows she's hurting. He knows she hurts because he hurts. His whole body aches from the torture he endured at the hands of the ghost, but that was nothing compared to whatever the ghost had been doing to Mabel when he woke up. He could only imagine how much pain she's really in.

But it's not just that. He can't put his finger on what it is exactly, but Mabel is different. He knows how she gets when she's hurt, but this is more than just hurt. The ghost did more than just hurt her while he was unconscious, she managed to get under her skin and do something far more damaging. Whatever it is, Dipper is going to fix it somehow, but first they need to escape. Once they're both safe, they can deal with whatever the ghost did to Mabel. The little he saw of what happened was enough to have his stomach twist in knots as he put the puzzle pieces in his head together, and while he doesn't have the full picture, it's not hard to fill in the blanks and from what he figures, Mabel is still in danger.

When he first woke up he was so terrified that Mabel was going to die that he was willing to do anything to save her. He still is. But whatever the ghost was about to ask of him, Mabel offered up to save _him._ He hated that he could only hear Mabel's side of the conversation, unless the ghost was speaking to him directly, so he had no idea what the ghost wanted and what Mabel agreed to. Or pretended to agree to anyway, but that most likely won't make any difference to the ghost. Whatever it is, he knows it can't be good or Mabel wouldn't have been so terrified when the ghost started to bargain with him.

 _Don't worry about that now, just worry about getting_ out _of here,_ he tells himself, trying to suppress the quiet panic growing inside. Panicking will do them no good.

The mansion is huge. Just one wrong turn as they try to find their way out could easily get them lost so Dipper tries to backtrack and go out the same way they came in. Problem is they found the séance room while being chased by ghosts and every room they had been in had more than one exit. With it being so dark it's hard to tell which doors they had gone through and if it's a room they had been in before.

Everything is fine until they reach the elaborate ballroom. The room has so many doors that look more or less the same in the faint glow of their light sources that he has no idea which set of doors to go through. _Did we go straight or turn somewhere in here?_ Dipper wonders, struggling to remember which ones lead to the foyer.

He stops in the middle of the room and Mabel bumps into him, groaning softly. "How are you holding up?" he asks. He can tell by her breathing that she's exhausted and not doing too well.

"Mmm," she replies softly, which isn't much of an answer. She grasps his shoulder, swaying where she stands and in the eerie green glow she looks like she could either faint, puke or both.

"Do you know which way to go?" he asks, then realizes that she had been a little out of it when they first went through the ballroom, recovering from the first attack.

"N-no," she whispers, tipping forward as though about to fall but she catches herself.

"Are you sure you're OK?" he asks again, grabbing her by the arm to hold her steady.

"I um…I think so?" she replies, clearly uncertain, grasping his shoulder for balance. "My head kinda hurts…" she pauses, "No, actually it hurts a lot," she moans, clutching her temples with her free hand.

Dipper shudders, not entirely surprised considering when he woke up, Elizabeth had her hands on Mabel's head, her ghostly fingers reaching right into her skull. He could still hear Mabel screaming, an unearthly howl of pain. That sound, that sight will probably haunt him for some time. It wasn't the first time he was scared Mabel was going to die, but that doesn't make it any easier.

He looks around the room and glances back at her, his eyes widening in alarm. "Mabel, your nose is bleeding."

She puts her fingers to her nose, blinking confusedly at the sight of the stains on her fingers when she pulls them away. She squeezes her eyes shut with a whimper, "Dipper…"

"Hold on," he says, taking off his backpack to rummage through it in the darkness until he finds his small package of tissues. He takes a few, holding them to her nose, "Here."

Despite clearly feeling awful, Mabel smirks with amusement as she takes the tissues from him and presses them to her nose, "You brought Kleenex? You really are overprepared."

"Yeah for everything except what we need to defeat the ghosts, protect ourselves properly and get out of here," he frowns, not liking how terrible Mabel looks in the darkness. She might be grinning, teasing him, which is a good sign, but it doesn't change the fact she looks drained and weak, her eyes betraying her pain. _I never should've let you come, I should've done a better job at protecting you,_ he thinks, _I can't lose you._

"Ugh, that again?" she groans, "Stop blaming yourself for everything that's happened."

"I'm not…"

"Yeah you are," she insists, wincing with pain, "how many times do I have to tell you being here was _my_ choice and what happened back there was my fault, OK? I…I thought I could f-fix things."

"So what exactly _did_ happen back there? While I was out? Did she cast some sort of spell or something on you maybe?" Dipper asks, then worriedly adds, "What kind of deal did you make with her back there?"

Mabel stiffens, "Deal? I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do."

"No I don't."

"Yeah, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Come on Mabel..."

"He tricked me OK?" she blurts, "I didn't…"

"He?"

" _She_! Blah! I meant _she_ ," she says quickly with a nervous chuckle, "My brain hurts, can't think properly. And I tricked _her._ There was no deal."

"Care to elaborate?" Dipper asks, skeptical, trying to piece the puzzle together.

"Do we _really_ have to talk about this _now_?" Mabel mutters, swaying dizzily, gripping his shoulder like a lifeline, "We need to get out of here."

"I know but…you don't look so good and something is going on with you and I think I should know what happened while I was out. Please, let me help you, I can't help you if you won't tell me what happened!" Dipper insists, knowing she's avoiding the subject. _Just like Weirdmageddon…_ he thinks.

"I'm fine," she shrugs dismissively.

"You're a terrible liar," he points out, "What happened, Mabel? I only heard your side of the conversation, except when she was talking to me directly, about to bargain with me for _your_ life until you cut in. What did she ask from you? What did you agree to?"

"It doesn't matter," she whines, adjusting the tissue at her nose, anxious to get moving, "I didn't agree to anything, I only _pretended_ to so it's fine."

"I heard that part," Dipper sighs, "but do you think she'll accept that?"

Mabel hesitates, biting her lip. Something in her eyes tells him that she knows the answer but she merely says, "I don't know. Maybe?"

"You don't think so, do you?" It's not a question. And even in the darkness he can see the fear in her eyes, the terror of knowing it's not over and she might've made a terrible mistake.

"I… I… Look, I was only trying to buy time, distract her long enough so you could fight her and it worked. That's all that matters. Can we just go and find our way out of here so we don't have to worry about it anymore?"

"But Mabel…"

Irritated, Mabel snaps, "Can we _please_ not talk about this right now? Once we're out of here I can tell you all about it but now's not the time. We can't stay here. Like you said, the mirror won't hold Elizabeth for long and there's still that other ghost we have to worry about."

"OK fine, you're right, we need to get out of here. I'm sorry I shouldn't push you," he sighs, "but I'm worried about you."

"I know," she whimpers painfully, her eyes wet with tears as she squeezes her eyes shut, as though even the dim light is too much for her head to take, "but I'm f-fine, or at least I'm getting there. It seems to come and go but I'm starting to feel better now, just needed a second I guess."

"Are you sure?" he asks softly, holding her steady as she looks like she could collapse any moment, despite her words.

She nods, but doesn't open her eyes, "Yeah. My head is pounding, but not as bad as before and…if I keep my eyes closed the room won't spin as much." She takes the tissue from her nose, "Am I still bleeding?"

"Looks like it's stopped."

"Good," she wipes her nose one more time and blinks at him with a weak grin, "so, which way do we go?"

"I'm still not sure…"

She tenses with fear a moment before Dipper feels the temperature of the room drop.

"Well, let's pick an exit because we need to get moving, _now_ ," Mabel exclaims.

"Yeah," he agrees, anxiously looking around before picking a set of doors, taking Mabel's hand and leading the way. But when he walks through his shoulders sag when he realizes it's the wrong one. Instead of the grand foyer he's looking for, they're now standing in a different ballroom, grander than the one they just left. With a massive, elaborate chandelier hanging from the ceiling, covered in dust and cobwebs, a large staircase that leads to the second floor that overlooks the room and what looks like a grand piano in the corner covered in a padded cloth next to heavily boarded up doors that seem to lead to a terrace outside. Through the tall dusty windows where there are no boards covering it up, the moonlight shines into the room, providing a little more light and with their eyes adjusted to the darkness Dipper turns off the prop light saber, not needing it in this room.

"This must be the _main_ ballroom," he says in awe, "how rich do you have to be to have two ballrooms in your house?"

"We have to go back," Mabel says, glancing around nervously, her voice a little strained.

"We might be able to get out through the terrace if we can pry the boards off," he says, heading for the other side of the large room, still holding Mabel's hand. When Mabel doesn't move and he feels her resistance he stops, "What?"

"We have to turn back or get out of here," she whispers fearfully, " _Now_ , it's not safe in here!"

"We can't turn back if that other ghost is following us!"

"Then we still have to keep moving before it finds us…"

"OK, but…" Dipper starts, looking at the doors to the terrace, seeing a possible way out. Theoretically, if Elizabeth is still trapped, the force field holding them hostage shouldn't be working. They just have to figure out how to pry the boards off.

The sound of a piano interrupts his thoughts. They both look at the covered piano, seeing nothing there. Dipper's breath quickens as they stare at the piano a moment and he quietly murmurs, "OK, you're right. Let's get out of here."

Though the piano is slightly out of tune, the music is beautiful, haunting, sad, unlike anything Dipper had ever heard before. He follows Mabel towards a different exit from the one they came in, hoping that would lead to more familiar ground, worried about getting lost in the massive mansion. But the music…it's so beautiful. He can't help but be drawn to it, imagining a long forgotten era, sadness, death, heartache, hope. He's no longer afraid, no longer trapped in a dark, haunted mansion, but transported to another time and while in the back of his mind he knows he needs to leave, he can't remember why. Besides he doesn't want to, not until the haunting melody is finished.

The decay of the long abandoned mansion melts away, as well as the padded cover on the piano, and though it's still too dark to see properly, the ballroom is like new, no sign of dust or rot, but elegant and pristine, like it was back in the early 1900's, the grand piano shining with a fresh polish.

A figure dressed all in black sits at the piano, her silhouette concealed by the shadows in the dimly lit room and the dark veil over her face. He slowly approaches her, transfixed as the music keeps playing. She ignores him as he reaches her and unable to help himself he lifts the black veil covering her face and recoils in shock as she stops playing and grabs his wrist, white, bony arthritic fingers gripping him so tight he feels as though his bones would break under her grasp.

All around him the shiny and new room returns to it's state of rot and decay, but it's worse than before, as though it had endured far more years of neglect than when he and Mabel first entered the room.

She turns to face him, her face eerily familiar. It's hard to tell who she could be, her eyes are hollow, blank and unseeing, her cheeks pale and thin, tears of blood falling down her face in an endless stream, "What took you so long?" she hisses accusingly, "Why did you leave me here? In this _HELL_? I know what I did was unforgivable, but do you really think I deserved _this?_ "

She holds up her other hand and he gasps at the sight of her palm. Burned into the flesh like an infected brand, is the symbol of a triangle with one eye that looks a lot like Bill Cipher.

"The torture never _stops_ ," she cries, her black sleeves slipping to her elbows to reveal heavy chains around her wrists and more symbols and scars up and down her arm, "You know I never meant to hurt you! So why would you leave me here? You said you would come back and you never did! You promised you would save me. You _promised!_ But it's too late now, brother, it's too late!"

He can feel the colour drain from his cheeks, recognizing the voice now, though it was hard to hear at first because it sounds so hoarse, but there's no mistaking her distinct voice, "Mabel?" He can't believe it, but he can see it now too upon a closer look. It's Mabel. At least an older version of her, but he can't tell how much older she is. Her messy white hair with a few streaks of brown and her crippled, arthritic hands indicate she's _old_ , but other than being so thin her cheekbones practically stick out, and the scars and bruises that mar her skin, she doesn't have any wrinkles or age spots, and there's a naïve, youthful innocence to her tortured blind eyes, indicating that she's still quite young.

He blinks and hot tears fall down his face, "Mabel what happened to you?" he whispers, his voice broken.

"You left. You left me behind," she replies coldly, letting him go to continue playing her sad melody on the piano, though it clearly hurts her twisted and broken fingers, "I was holding you back. He marked my soul, scarred it deep and bound me to her. That _imposter_. And now look at me… a fate worse than death…the torture never stops."

"Wh-what can I do?"

She slowly turns her head to face him, her hollow, unseeing and bleeding eyes burning into his soul, "I told you…it's too late."

"No! No! Please! There's got to be another way! There's got to be _something_ I can do!"

"You can die," she hisses venomously and suddenly he can hear the sound of something rattling above him, sounding like pieces of crystal or glass.

"Dipper!"

The voice cuts through his senses, Mabel's voice screaming at him from behind. He whips his head around towards the sound and sees his sister standing on the staircase, screaming at him, "Mabel?"

He looks back at the tortured soul at the piano but there's no one there. In fact, he's not even next to the piano at all, instead he's standing in the middle of the room. Disoriented and nauseous he blinks and stumbles, falling to his knees, his body trembling and his heart pounding so hard it's as though it could burst out of his chest. He can taste the salt of his tears spilling from his eyes.

"Come on bro-bro snap out of it! _Move!_ Get away from there! _NOW_!" she screams. She looks like she's trying to get to him, but something invisible is holding her back. "You gotta move!" she cries.

Dipper looks up and sees the chandelier directly above him, rattling and swinging violently, a couple of the hooks in the ceiling holding it up had already come loose and the elaborate fixture is tilted off balance, swaying precariously. Any moment and it will fall, crushing him.

He tries to get up and get out of harm's way but he can't move. Its like there's a pressure on his shoulders, a literal and emotional weight holding him down.

"Let him go! Let him _go_!" Mabel screams, struggling to break free of whatever force is holding her, "Please!"

She falls onto her back on the stairs as though violently pushed and is dragged harshly up the staircase by her feet, lifting her head to protect it from bouncing as she's pulled up the stairs, further away from him. "Dipper!" She twists around and reaches for him and though he's frozen in place he reaches back, crying out her name, still keeping a wary eye on the chandelier swaying above him.

Another hook holding the chandelier up snaps loose and Dipper startles when it sinks lower, still violently swaying.

"Mabel!" he cries out, scared for his own life, but also so rattled by whatever vision he saw he's almost more afraid of what will happen to Mabel if he dies and can no longer protect her. Would she end up like that? Suffering a fate _worse_ than death?

The last hook securing the chandelier to the ceiling, the main one, the largest one comes loose while from the top of the staircase Mabel screams, her bandaged hand reaching out helplessly for him despite the distance between them. Dipper screams reaching for her while also instinctively holding his other arm up to protect himself, bracing himself for the impact that will surely crush him to death as the chandelier drops directly above him.

He tenses when he hears the massive crash, the noise rattling his ears. But oddly enough he feels no pain, except for the sting of a few cuts from the flying debris. _I thought dying would hurt more than this…_ he thinks stupidly as he blinks his eyes open and finds himself lying at the foot of the stairs, a safe distance away from where the chandelier landed. Confused, he brushes some of the broken glass, metal and crystal off him, surprised to have survived relatively unscathed other than what feels like a few superficial cuts on his cheeks and hands, his costume protecting him from most of the debris.

 _How did I get here?_ He wonders, looking around in bewilderment as he slowly picks himself up off the floor. He glances at the fallen chandelier that would've definitely killed him had he not mysteriously ended up out of harms way. The whole thing is unsettling and his mind is reeling, trying to process everything that had just happened to the point that it almost makes him dizzy. But it all melts away when he looks up the staircase and sees Mabel at the top lying on her stomach, her bandaged hand reaching down the stairs, her head drooped over the top step. She's not moving.

"Mabel!" he cries, stumbling up the steps to rush to her aid. He sits on the top stair and flips her over onto her back, resting her head on his lap, gasping with worry at the sight of her.

Blood is gushing from her nose at an alarming rate, but even more terrifying is that she's also bleeding from her eyes, leaving thin dark streaks down her pale face.

Trembling fingers reach for her neck as he tries to make sense of what must've happened. He could only think of one explanation. Mabel must've done something to placate the ghosts and save him. It wouldn't be the first time she's done that tonight. That's why he's safe and she's lying unconscious bleeding from her nose and her _eyes_.

 _What did you do Mabel?_ He wonders fearfully, trying to shake from his mind the vision or hallucination that had lured him into harms way in the first place.

For whatever reason the ghosts in this mansion are fixated on Mabel. He doesn't know what they want with her or why they're after her or what kind of deal she unwittingly made to protect him, but what he does know is that they're _using_ him to get to her.

Not anymore.

He will _not_ be used as a pawn in their game. He's not going to let them win. They might be stronger than he anticipated and his resources might be limited, but they'll be _dammed_ if they think that will stop him from protecting his sister. They messed with the wrong person, and they're going to pay.

A faint, distorted sound of a woman's laughter echoes through his ears, almost mocking him, challenging him. Dipper looks around for any sign of where it could be coming from. He looks down the stairs at the fallen chandelier, at the piano, at the doors to the terrace, an exit so infuriatingly close, but he can't see anything strange. He thinks he might've seen a quick flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, but when he turns to look, it's gone.

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your thoughts, theories and criticisms. You guys are the best!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Sorry if the last chapter scared you? Well, thanks for making it this far and I hope you like this chapter. As always reviews are very much appreciated. Thanks to everyone who has left a comment and/or added this to their favourites and follows lists. This story has taken on a life of its own as they tend to do. This is for anyone who loves the show and wishes that the show could go on. I wish the show could've continued, as much as it had concluded so perfectly. Hello fanfiction! Thanks for helping to fill the void!

Some of you have been asking about Stan and Ford and all I have to say is be patient ;-)

Without further ado, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

Everything aches.

She moans softly as she slowly, achingly, returns to awareness, _What happened_? She wonders, her mind a fog but her heart gripped with grief. Her eyes flutter as she struggles to open them, but exhaustion and pain wraps around her like a heavy blanket and she can hardly move.

She's cold, chilled to the bone but there's nothing she can do about it in her state but she tenses, a deep shudder rippling through her body like a wave and it hurts.

She can hear movement nearby, heavy breathing, panting like whoever is with her is working on something mildly strenuous.

Unable to do more than breathe and shiver she wracks her muddled brain, trying to make sense of where she is, and what happened until all at once it crashes into her with a force so powerful it steals her breath away.

 _Dipper…_ she thinks with a mournful whimper, _the chandelier…it fell on him. It killed him. I couldn't stop it…I couldn't save him…_

In her mind's eye she can see him, reaching out to her, his eyes open unseeing and lifeless, his mouth frozen in a silent scream, dripping with blood, his body buried in the twisted wreckage of the fallen chandelier. She tried to reach him, she tried to get him out of harms way but while he had been frozen in place, she had been dragged further and further away from him as Elizabeth's voice echoed through her mind, taunting her, daring her to save him.

 _"_ _It's your fault, child,_ " Elizabeth's voice whispered in her head, _"If you did not try to trick me, he would be safe. We would've let him go unharmed."_

As she screamed her brother's name, desperate to get to him before the chandelier could fall, desperate to free him of the spell that held him there all the while fighting the agonizing pressure building in her head, she begged Elizabeth to let him go but it was no use.

All at once the chandelier came crashing down and the pain in her skull exploded, violently throwing her into a state of pure agony as she screamed her brother's name once again, wishing she could simply save him out of sheer willpower alone.

But it wasn't meant to be.

He was dead.

She couldn't save him.

Her heart so heavy with grief she could hardly breathe, an oppressive darkness wrapped around her like a cocoon and the last thing she heard before getting fully consumed by it was Elizabeth's voice in her head, distorted and strange, whisper, _"Interesting…foolish girl…she's stronger than I thought…_ "

"Mabel?"

She releases a whimper at the sound of the voice, full of hope and concern, cracking slightly. It tears her away from her memories and pulls her out of the darkness, even as the unbearable weight of exhaustion and grief beckon her to ignore the voice and surrender to it.

"Hey, are you with me? Come on sis, wake up, please," the voice begs.

The voice is a mockery. It sounds so much like Dipper, but it can't be him. He's gone. Is this just another method of torture for her? She slips back towards oblivion but a gentle nudge on her shoulder and another whisper of her name baits her and she fights the beckoning void. The voice, it sounds so much like him. Could she be wrong? Or is it some cruel trick? She _has_ to know…

With monumental effort, she groans and her eyes flutter open. Dried tears make her lashes stick together and she blinks a few times, new tears washing it away as she looks up and sees her brother kneeling over her. Through the faint green and blue glow from the glow sticks around her neck she can see his face shift from worry and anticipation to relief, though the concern doesn't leave him.

"Hey, Mabel you with me?" he asks, "Say something."

For a second she stares at him in stunned silence, questioning how it could be possible, or whether or not she's merely dreaming. "Dipper…" she breathes finally, her whispered voice so hoarse it's almost unfamiliar to her, "y-you're…it's you…" she chokes out a relieved sob, weakly pushing herself up to prop herself up with her elbows, grimacing as it makes the room spin, "you're alive…b-but…h-how?"

"Take it easy," he soothes, sliding his arm under her back to help her sit and lean against the wall behind her, "you lost a lot of blood."

Confused she looks at her hand, feeling the sting from her cuts and while she can see fresh blood seeping through the bandage, it's not much and other than her hand she can't feel any injuries.

"Your nose and yo—your nose was bleeding. A lot," Dipper clarifies grimly when he catches on to her confusion.

"You're alive," she murmurs again in disbelief, grasping his arm, partially for support and partially to verify that he's real and not a trick or worse, a ghost himself, "but…h-how? I saw the chandelier fall…"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he replies, peering into her eyes as though checking for something. "What did you do, Mabel?"

"Me? I didn't do anything. I mean, I tried to get to you and pull you to safety but I was held back by…by _something_ ," she leans back, squirming under his gaze, "what are you doing? Is something wrong with my eyes?"

"Can you see OK?"

"I see fine, why?"

He hesitates, "No reason."

Mabel looks around, not recognizing the room they're in. It looks like a dusty old office with bookshelves lining one wall and a partially covered roll-top desk and some other indistinguishable furniture covered in sheets, and a tall boarded up window that reaches almost from floor to ceiling, "Where are we?"

"One of the rooms on the second floor," he replies, "after the chandelier fell I carried-well more like dragged, you in here. We should be safe in here, at least for now. I'm trying to pry the boards off the window so we can get out of here. From what I can see there's a deep enough ledge to stand on and I think we can use some of these sheets on the furniture to climb down."

Mabel nods, pinching the bridge of her nose with a trembling hand, "OK, awesome."

"How's your head?"

"Hurts, but not like it did before. It's more like a normal, run of the mill headache now. Better than earlier when I felt like my brain was going to explode."

Dipper tenses, something in her words make him flinch with worry.

Mabel grins weakly, "My head didn't explode, you know. Still intact." She keeps her tone light, a little tease to ease the tension but it doesn't quite work.

"Except when I found you, your nose and your…oh man…you were bleeding so much, that's almost what it looked like," his mouth forms a thin line of concentration, "Mabel, what did you do? I was frozen in place under that chandelier, I should've died and the only explanation I can think of is that you did something. Something to convince the ghosts to let me go."

"But I didn't," she insists, "not that I didn't try. I could hear Elizabeth's voice in my head, I begged her to let you go and she told me to save you myself but I couldn't…" She wrinkles her brow, the dull throb in her skull spikes a little as she relives that moment. She can almost feel the phantom pain of the pressure in her head building and building as she became more and more desperate to save her brother.

She saw him. She saw him die but…obviously that's not right because other than a couple of scratches that she can see, he's fine. But she _saw_ it. She remembers taking his hand, still warm but lifeless. There was no pulse beneath her fingers.

Except…her breath hitches and she can't seem to remember how to exhale when it occurs to her that everything she remembers before she passed out was out of order. She remembers leading the way for the other exit, the piano playing, the tune distorted and painful to the ears, sensing Dipper wasn't behind her and turning to see him in some sort of trance, standing directly below the swinging chandelier. She tried to run to him to make him snap out of it when the pain in her head ignited, so intense it knocked her off her feet. That's when she saw him dead underneath the fallen fixture.

She was on the main level when she saw him die, but it didn't actually fall until _after_ she had been violently dragged up the stairs, when she was trying in vain to fight the invisible force, when she was reaching out for him, wishing she could save him from sheer willpower alone. The chandelier falling was the _last_ thing she saw before the pain in her head exploded and everything went black and Elizabeth's distorted voice echoed through her head, soundinf impressed, _Interesting…foolish girl…she's stronger than I thought…_

"Mabel? You OK?" Dipper asks, giving her a gentle shake to snap her out of her growing panic.

She groans, grasping her head not from pain but dizziness as she forces herself to relax, "I don't…I don't understand what happened. My memories are kind of fuzzy, they don't much sense."

"What do you mean?"

"What I remember…isn't right… I remember seeing you die but…my memories are scattered, out of order and clearly isn't what happened because I _saw_ you die! Crushed by the chandelier but this was _before_ the chandelier actually fell!"

"Wait, what?"

"But obviously, it's wrong and out of order, but I _saw_ you," she cries, the memory so vivid that even with him kneeling beside her, alive and well, it still feels real. The grief was real, and the desperation to change the outcome was so overwhelming it has her questioning the truth. Is she dreaming right now? "You w-were dead, I couldn't get a pulse and it was so _real_!"

She leans into him, and he wraps his arms around her, letting her cry into his shoulder, "They were messing with you Mabel, trying to manipulate you by putting that image in your head and then placing me in that exact danger just so they could get to you. Don't let them, OK? Don't let them get to you. Don't let them wear you down, that's how they win." He gives her an encouraging squeeze and adds, "They…they put some disturbing images into my head too."

The quiet and grim tone to his voice prompts Mabel to pull away and look at him, "When you were out of it?"

He nods.

"What did you see?"

He hesitates, trying to find the right words, "When the piano started to play, the music was so hauntingly beautiful, I was drawn to it, so much that it made me forget where I was."

"Really?" Mabel cuts in, "to me it sounded awful."

"Huh," Dipper muses, "that's weird, but I guess it's because you weren't meant to be lured by it... Anyway, I was drawn to it and I saw a figure at the piano dressed in black…" he pauses, glancing at Mabel, "just like Elizabeth's ghost, but it wasn't her, it was…" he hesitates again.

"Me?" Mabel guesses, having a feeling.

"Yeah, how did…?"

"Lucky guess?" she shrugs.

"Well, it was you, but you were older," he shudders, "you were…let's just say I never want to see you or anyone in that state ever. It also felt… _real_ , strange as it was."

Mabel wipes the tears from her eyes and smiles, "Well bro-bro, if they were trying to mess with you, maybe they should've come up with a more plausible illusion. I mean, I don't play the piano and why would I be dressed like Elizabeth unless…" her voice trails off. _Your blood, your body, your soul she said…is she planning to switch places with me? Is_ that _the sacrifice she made me agreed to?_ Mabel wonders, a strange feeling in her gut.

"Unless what?"

"I don't know, like you said, they're messing with us," Mabel shrugs, not wanting to think about it. She already knows that whatever Elizabeth specifically had in mind when she tried to coerce Mabel into a deal is _bad_ , she doesn't know the details but if they can just escape, it won't matter. "Well, enough talking, let's get out of here shall we?"

Dipper pats her on the back and climbs to his feet, "I'm working on it."

Mabel shakily starts to push herself up but Dipper stops her, "I want to help," she says in protest.

"You've been through way too much and you need to take it easy," Dipper tells her, "besides, you're safer where you are. I put up wards around this room meant to keep them out, and a trap by the door, but just in case I took some extra precautions," he points to the floor and Mabel sees he drew a circle around her with chalk and some symbols, a detail she hadn't noticed before.

"What about you?"

"I'm fine, they seem to be after you, not me."

"Right, that's why they tried to kill you."

"Yeah, so they can get to _you_. I don't know what it is that Elizabeth wants with you, or what you mistakenly agreed to, but it seems like every time _I'm_ in danger, you end up in the line of fire somehow. You need to promise that if they go after me again, you won't do anything crazy that could get you hurt or worse to save me."

"Not a chance Dipping Sauce," Mabel insists, "and you know it, just as I know it goes both ways. And they know it too."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Dipper sighs, but then he firms his stance and his face turns grim and determined, "but I'm not letting them get to you and I'm _definitely_ not going to let them use me anymore. We're getting out of here and they are going _down_ for what they did to you."

"To us," Mabel corrects him, "I feel better, I want to help," she says even though she's still so dizzy, nauseous and lightheaded she feels like she's on a boat in a storm, thrashed about by the waves. "I _need_ to help. What can I do?"

He sighs, "Keep lookout."

"Sure, no problem. But what else?"

"Mabel…"

"I need to do something, please. We're a team, and if I just sit here I'm useless, I'm feeling a little better and I need to help, if for no other reason than as a distraction."

"OK fine," Dipper says in understanding, "Well how about while I try to pry these boards off, you gather the sheets covering the furniture in here and make a rope for us to climb down."

She grins, happy to have a task, "Awesome."

"But if you see any sign of the ghosts returning go back into the circle and _don't_ touch that black cloth over there," he points to a dark corner where one of the furniture pieces stands shrouded in black, dark, ominous and a little foreboding. Mabel flinches when the throbbing in her head spikes slightly, reminding her that the pain that's been present ever since she said she was willing to sacrifice herself for Elizabeth is still there, a constant presence.

"Why?"

"Because that's most likely a mirror under there if the one in the séance room is any indication. Whoever covered the furniture before abandoning this place was clearly superstitious enough to do that," Dipper replies, "I don't want to take the chance that if Elizabeth's still trapped in the mirror she won't use it to her advantage."

"You think she's still trapped?" Mabel asks.

"I don't know," he replies, "but do you want to risk it?"

"No," Mabel replies, "but what about what happened in the ballroom? She shouldn't have been able to do that if she was trapped, right?"

"Theoretically, no," Dipper gives a nervous laugh, "except that she's the ghost of a powerful witch, right? I don't want to underestimate what she can or can't do, she's different from most hauntings. All she would need is a mirror, I think, to still have power. Besides, there's also that other ghost."

"I didn't see any mirror down there, did you?"

"No, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one. You saw how big and dark that room was, we probably just didn't notice it."

"It would explain how I heard her voice in my head, I guess," Mabel sighs glancing at the bandage on her hand, stained with blood.

"Well, whether she's free or still stuck in the mirror, we have to get out of here," Dipper goes back to the window and retrieves a tool from the floor that must've been left behind by the museum's people, to try and pry one of the boards off, "I think she's still trapped, because there's no force keeping me from trying to get this board off like last time. So that's a good thing, but we need to hurry."

"Right," Mabel dizzily climbs to her feet and starts grabbing the sheets from the furniture as Dipper tries to pry the boards off the window. She gives him a thumb's up as he gets one of the boards off as she rolls the sheets into a rope and ties them together. Keeping busy seems to help her feel a little better, though she can't shake this weird sense of wrongness in her body and mind. But it energizes her a little to be doing something more proactive.

When she pulls the sheet off the roll top desk however, the pain in her head flares, so sudden and intense that it throws her off balance as some strange images flash in her head in the same way they did when Elizabeth was attacking her in the séance room. She grasps the desk for balance, groaning softly closing her eyes to keep the room from spinning as the images flash quickly through her mind and then are gone before any of them can make sense, but it gives her an odd sense of déjà vu.

"You OK?" Dipper asks, turning around worriedly to check on her.

"Mmm, yeah," she groans softly, "I'm fine." She grabs the sheet and sits at the desk chair, drained of strength and shakily rolls the sheet into a rope, staring at the desk, compelled by the desire to open it. Her trembling hand reaches for the mahogany wood roll top cover and slides it up, the action making the sense of déjà vu even stronger. She cocks her head in curiosity when she sees the contents are empty except for a small stack of photographs facing down.

"Mabel, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," she murmurs absently, flipping the photographs over.

All the pictures are old, black and white photos. One is of Elizabeth sitting at the head of a table holding hands with a group of rich looking men and women. Mabel recognizes the room as the séance room. Elizabeth looks like she's in deep concentration, her eyes are closed and there's a strange glow hovering over the table and in the back corner behind her it looks like there was a fault in the film or something happened while it was being developed, a dark straight line. It's almost unnoticeable behind the dark background and the faint light source Mabel's using to look at it doesn't help, but the line disappears behind Elizabeth's shoulder. Looking closer, she can barely see a second line, almost invisible in the dark background mirroring the first line and vanishing out of frame, forming what looks like an upside-down 'V'.

 _Or a triangle…_ she thinks, shuddering at the thought, dismissing the idea with denial as quickly as it enters her head.

She flips the picture over and there's faded handwriting on the back, but also a sticker with some info typed onto it, probably added by the museum later, and she wondered if maybe the picture was at one point on display.

 _Date Unknown. Ms. Elizabeth Hartwell performing a séance for guests. Anomalies in photograph remain unexplained, though experts have ruled out the possibilities of a defect in the film or signs of tampering. Evidence of the existence of ghosts? Or perhaps an elaborate hoax?_

She puts the picture aside and looks at the next one. This one she feels like she's seen it before, it's eerily familiar to her but she can't place it. Unlike the first one there's nothing unusual about it. Three men and a woman posing outside the mansion, big smiles on their faces. The man and woman in the middle have their arms around each other, making Mabel conclude that they were a couple.

She flips the photograph over and it reads: _June 11, 1939. Almost Ten years after the death of Henry Hartwell on October 31, 1929, Paranormal investigators prepare to investigate and 'cleanse' the Hartwell Mansion of spirits after strange, unexplainable occurrences halt renovations and postpone opening of the Hartwell Hotel slated to open early 1940, 1 out of 2_

"Huh," Mabel mutters, hissing when the pain in her head spikes again, making her lurch forward from an overwhelming wave of dizziness.

"What? Are you OK?" Dipper asks, stopping to turn to face her.

"Yeah," she sniffs, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, her eyes widening to see a streak of blood. She sniffs again and wipes her nose a second time, relaxing a fraction when it seems like the nosebleed has stopped already. "I found some pictures in the desk. You mentioned that there had been a group to cleanse the mansion and that's why there hadn't been any reports of paranormal activity since, right?"

"Yeah."

"I found a picture of them."

"Cool," he replies, turning back to the window, "you can show me when we get out of here. The sooner you're safe, the better. Is the sheet rope thingy ready yet?"

"Almost," Mabel replies, wiping her nose again and finding no sign of blood on her hand. She reaches for the sheet but has to stop and close her eyes when the room keeps spinning and her dizziness threatens to knock her over. She draws a deep breath and blinks, deciding she needs a second before she can get back to work. She glances at the stack of photos, _Why not_? She shrugs, feeling compelled by curiosity to keep looking.

She puts the group photo at the back of the pile and looks at the next one and the photo is also familiar and almost identical to the first but the four people in the photograph are not smiling. They look exhausted and grim, the man and woman in the middle still have their arms around each other, but it looks more like its so they could hold each other up.

 _June 18, 1939. From L. to R. Paranormal researchers Mr. Samuel Meyer and Mr. Alexander Campbell, medium Ms. May Holland and proprietor of the Hartwell estate Mr. Owen Parsons. After a week of investigations following strange sightings and signs of paranormal activity, Meyer and Campbell have determined the Hartwell Estate is clean of any paranormal entity and renovations can continue as scheduled. 2 out of 2._

Mabel looks at the two in the middle again as the names jump out at her and she gasps, "Dipper…" she whispers, "Um, you have to see this." She groans as her temples throb, the room seems to tilt on its axis and she grasps the desk to keep from falling.

"What?" Dipper asks, wiping the sweat from his brow as he heads back to her, grabbing her shoulders to hold her steady, looking at her worriedly.

"Look at this picture," she says, squeezing her eyes shut from the dizziness and pain as she hands him the photograph, "Does this look familiar to you?"

"Yeah, like I really care about some picture right now…Mabel you really don't look so good…"

"I'm fine, just _look_ at it!" she snaps, her body trembling and her vision wavering. Her conversation with Elizabeth replays in her mind, filling her with an intense feeling of fear and panic as the picture provides yet another piece to the puzzle surrounding this haunting, all the while raising so many questions. "See anything familiar?"

He takes the photograph and squints to see it in the dim light, "Kinda, but…not really…Mabel are you _sure_ you're OK?"

Ignoring his concerned question, she blinks her eyes open and, hand trembling, she points to the two people in the middle, "How about them?"

He shrugs, but it's clear his worry over Mabel's fading health is taking far more precedence than any curiosity he might've had about the picture.

"Maybe it's hard to tell because it's dark, but the back says they're Alexander Campbell and May Holland," Mabel says, watching as Dipper's eyes widen as recognition sets in, "Dipper, why is there a picture of our great-grandparents in here?"

He opens and closes his mouth, speechless. But when his eyes drift to the last picture in the stack, now at the top of the small pile in her hand, his breath hitches in panic. "No…" he breathes, "it…it c-can't be…"

The photograph depicts the team of researchers, minus the photographer at the séance table. Their own Great-Grandma May-May is at the head of the table, levitating, her eyes glowing, dark tears leaving streaks on her face. But it's the image that seems superimposed onto the photograph, transparent and looming over the group, a dark, ominous presence that has Dipper looking terrified and ill. Though it's hard to see in the faded light, it also seems to jump out at them, undeniably clear: three dark lines forming a perfect isosceles triangle with one eye that seems to be staring right at them.

Suddenly, Mabel gives a startled yelp when the stack of photos spontaneously combust in her hand, leaving nothing but ashes behind.

* * *

A/N So the plot thickens? I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you think, I'd especially like to know what your thoughts and theories are about what's happening and what might happen next. But honestly, even if all you do is leave a little comment stating that you're still here, still reading this despite the show being finished for more than a year and the slower updates, that would be awesome. I like to know who's out there reading this. Makes me happy. :-)


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Hey, look! Another chapter! This one is looong! I hope y'all don't mind. Thanks to everyone who's sticking with this, to those who have put this on their favourites and especially to those who have left reviews/comments. You guys all mean a lot to me.

Shout outs:

Guest: I love Stranger Things! I saw it when it was first released and knew absolutely nothing about it, so it was nice to see it before the hype train took off. Eleven is awesome, and if anyone can make nosebleeds cool, it's her. I like how you see a connection between her and Mabel in this story, that's kinda awesome, though it's coincidental as I've had this idea swimming in my head for a long time. I love the theory!

Guest: (same person?) The strong sibling bond between Dipper and Mabel (and the familial love of the whole Pines family) is probably my favourite aspect of the show. I mean, I absolutely love the mystery, the humour, the world building and quirky characters but all of it would be nothing without a heart, and to me, the heart of the show is definitely the Mystery Twins. I'm happy you like this and Mabel's Choice and Made Me Realize, and I'm sorry it's been a while since I've updated, I do have a plan for them and hope to one day get back to them.

Chris S: That's such a great compliment! I love this show and I'm sorry to see it end, even if it did end perfectly. I'm so happy that it feels like it belongs in the same universe because that's what I'm going for, I want to continue the series in my own way. So while I know my writing is more dark and angsty compared to the show, (although the show killed it with the dark angst a lot, it still managed to balance it with a lot of humour, which is definitely not my strong point) I do try to maintain the spirit of the show and the characters. Thanks for the awesome review! :-)

MysteriousMan13: I'm glad you liked the Bill Cipher tease. ;-D I love that Bill has such a deeply rooted history with the Pines (I'm one of those people who believes that it was Bill who ruined Ford's project, not Stan) so I thought it would be cool to have him involved with Dipper and Mabel's mother's side of the family as well. Thanks for the review! Glad you like this so far!

Situation71: I like your theory but...well you'll soon see! :-) Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate it and I'm glad you like my stories.

SpiritFighter208: Glad you seem to like the suspense and stuff, makes me happy to hear! More about their great-grandparents will be revealed sooner or later. ;-)

Ahmed Samy, Mistress Soul and anyone I may have missed, Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm glad you like it so far and I hope you like this chapter!

On with the story!

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

"So many questions…" Mabel mutters as Dipper seems to be in a state of distress, pacing back and forth, going to the window to attempt to pry another board off, to checking on Mabel, to checking his backpack for more supplies.

"You think?" Dipper asks, "Why was Granny May-May at the mansion? Why was _Bill_ there? What was going on?"

"Dipper," Mabel soothes, "slow down, you're making me dizzy."

"And why don't you seem surprised by all this? Bill has been messing with our family, _both_ sides of our family for who knows how long and…"

"But he's gone now," Mabel murmurs gently, "remember? He's gone."

But Dipper doesn't seem to be paying attention, all he can think about are his horrible nightmares surrounding the dream demon, and how they all ended in Mabel's death. He almost lost her during Weirdmageddon, _twice_ , and now the spirits in this stupid mansion are threatening her, and it's taking such a toll on her she's almost looking like a ghost herself and somehow Bill's _still_ involved.

"Ford said he could come back."

"Yeah in like, a thousand years."

Dipper stops pacing, "But do we know that for sure? I think Grunkle Ford said that so we wouldn't worry. Grunkle Ford is a genius, but even _he_ admitted there's no way to know for certain."

"Those pictures were old, Dipper," she reminds him, "that picture was from the _past_. It doesn't mean he's coming back, broseph."

Dipper shakes his head, pacing to the window and to Mabel and back again, wringing his hands in distress.

"Wow, this has really gotten you shaken up," Mabel exclaims. "You really need to calm down bro-bro, freaking out isn't going to help us get out of here. Bill is gone, OK? He's _gone_."

"It's not just that I…" he runs his hands through his hair, pacing again. He goes to the window and then looks back at Mabel still sitting at the desk, trembling and pale, looking like she's on the verge of passing out. He wasn't joking when he said she lost a lot of blood. While it had been scary to see her eyes bleeding, her nose had been bleeding so badly he's pretty sure she left a pint or two at the top of the staircase. She's clutching the desk like a lifeline, trying to look like she's OK for his sake, but failing miserably at it, "Why was there a picture of Granny May-May in here?"

"She and Great-Grandpa Alex were apparently part of the research team who cleansed the mansion of spirits back in the day," Mabel explains, "according to the info on the back of the picture anyway. It says that she was a medium."

"A medium? Like, psychic, talk to the dead, _medium_?"

"That's what the description said."

"Why are we just learning this _now_?" he asks, he leans heavily against the wall next to the window and echoes Mabel's earlier statement, "I have so many questions."

"You and me both bro-bro," Mabel nods.

They never knew their great-grandfather, Alexander Campbell. He died back when their mom was a baby, but Granny May-May, whom Mabel was named after, was a big part of their lives up until she passed away in February at the ripe old age of 95. She shared many stories about her past, and even told them some scary ghost stories that kept them up at night, which really angered their mother. But she had never once mentioned that she and her husband were paranormal researchers or that she was a medium or that her ghost stories might have been real.

They only clue that they could recall was that she did mention near the end, how her darling Alex would often visit her, and while everyone played along, they also chalked it up to a bit of senility in her old age. Now both Dipper and Mabel wondered if maybe he really did visit her.

"This was just supposed to be a simple haunting," Dipper sighs, working on getting the boards off the window again, "a measly level three. A simple recon to help Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan…"

"I know," Mabel nods.

"And now _Bill Cipher_ is involved."

"Maybe he was, but that was a long time ago," Mabel reminds him, "because he's _gone_ now."

"OK, then what was he doing here in the first place?" he asks, not really expecting an answer, he's just got so many questions darting through his brain.

"I think…I think she—Elizabeth, worshipped him," Mabel whispers quietly.

"What makes you say that?"

"I just…I have a feeling," she shivers, "she mentioned something about having a Master and… I don't know for sure but I think…I mean it's possible, considering everything, that he could be the reason she has her abilities. I think he gave them to her. You didn't see it, but one of the pictures was of Elizabeth hosting a séance. It was too dark to see very well, but behind her…it looked like there was a triangle. I mean it could've been an anomaly in the film, at least that's what it said on the back but…given what we know, probably not."

Dipper closes his eyes as he tries to process everything they've learned and none of it is good. Could anyone blame him for freaking out? The ghosts in the mansion are not only crazy powerful and for some reason after Mabel, but now they're linked to Bill Cipher and their great-grandparents?

Still shaken by the apparition at the piano in the main ballroom on top of everything else, he just can't seem to shake the unsettling image of the older version of Mabel, a tortured prisoner of the mansion. She had accused him of leaving her behind to rot, condemning her to a fate worse than death. But the part that stands out the most in his mind right now, especially in light of mysterious new evidence, is that the apparition had an effigy of the dream demon on her palm. _He marked my soul, scarred me deep and bound me to her._

"Mabel, let me see your hand," he says suddenly.

She cocks her head curiously, looking at the bandage and then back at him, "It's fine," she holds it to her chest, "you bandaged it up nicely so there's no point taking it off until we get out of here."

"Please? I need to see something."

She sighs, holding it out for him to see but it's clear she's nervous about it.

"There's fresh blood seeping through the bandage," he murmurs grimly.

"Probably reopened when things were getting crazy with the chandelier, but I'm sure it's no big deal. I mean, it stings but…"

He unravels the bandage from her hand, murmuring a soft apology when she gives a low hiss as it sticks to the wound. He's somewhat relieved to see it hadn't changed, still two lines to form a perfect 'V' shape, but it's not enough to ease his fears.

"What?" Mabel frowns.

"Nothing," he sighs, "I think I'm just…"

"Just what?"

"Being a little paranoid? I mean, look at the shape of the two cuts."

"Yeah, kind of like a 'V' depending on how you look at it, so?"

"But don't you think that's a little strange? I mean, what are the odds? It's one line away from being a triangle."

He notices her tense slightly but she scoffs, "It's probably some freaky coincidence. It doesn't mean anything."

Dipper knows she's downplaying things so he won't be so freaked out but he can see right through her. "Yeah, just like Bill Cipher messing with people on both sides of our family long before we even existed is also just a freaky coincidence."

Mabel bites her lip, "Maybe. Maybe you're right or maybe I'm right, but it doesn't change the fact that Bill is _gone_. We know what he had planned and it failed. We won. So it doesn't matter anymore…"

"If it doesn't matter, then why are you just as freaked out as I am?"

"I'm not…"

"Yeah you are. I know you're just trying to help but you should know that I can see right through you."

"OK, so I am freaked out, but can you blame me?" Mabel snaps, "We're trapped in a haunted mansion occupied by ghosts who want to kills us! Things are seriously messed up, but how is freaking out going to solve anything?"

"You're right, I'm sorry," Dipper replies, taking a deep breath to calm himself, "and I don't blame you I just… I want answers and I know that you know more than you're telling me. Something's going on with you, something's _wrong_ and I feel so helpless... Ever since I woke up to see Elizabeth attacking you and then you, I don't know, made a _deal_ or something…"

"It was a _mistake_ , all right?" she hisses defensively, but then her voice grows quiet and sad, regretful, "A mistake. All of it. I was so stupid and selfish and…I screwed up but I only wanted to make thing right. I never meant to hurt you and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know what I did was unforgivable…"

 _I know what I did was unforgivable, but do you really think I deserved_ this _? The torture never stops…_

Dipper can feel his heart pounding faster as Mabel's words echo the apparition at the piano. He swallows the fear burrowing deep into his gut and interrupts her, "Whoa, whoa, Mabel," he soothes, taken aback by her response, he puts his hand on her shoulder and his eyes meet hers. She blinks back tears, her eyes distant and full of guilt as she looks away in shame.

"What are you talking about? You never hurt me, you were trying to save me," he reminds her, a little confused by her reaction, it's almost like they're on completely different pages, talking about two different things, "how is that selfish? And like you said, you were buying time."

She nods quickly, "Yeah…yeah I was. I was." She wipes the tears from her eyes and nods again and seems to visibly return to the here and now, "I didn't know what she would do to you if you agreed to… if you said you were willing. You're the only one of us who really knows how to fight her. I couldn't let her hurt you again, but I didn't mean to make any deal. I was trying to trick her and I shouldn't have done it because…I just wanted to buy time and keep you safe, but I think I just made things worse for the both of us."

"What did she want from you? What kind of deal did you make?" Dipper asks, unable to rid the unsettling apparition at the piano from his mind no matter how hard he tries.

Mabel shudders as she draws a deep breath and hesitates, "Um…I'm not sure, exactly."

She's lying, he can immediately tell. He wants to call her on it but she looks so lost that he can't bring himself to do it so he sighs, "Well, whatever it is it can't be good. I don't like how it's affecting you."

"Me neither," she admits.

"Well, she's not getting you," he promises, returning to the window determinedly, plan set, decision made because no one messes with his sister and gets away with it, "because you're getting out of here."

" _We_ , you mean," Mabel clarifies, eyeing him suspiciously.

"That's the plan ultimately, hopefully," he shrugs, "but if she tries to get to you again, she'll have to come through me and I'm not letting her even get the chance to try again."

"You're not planning to do anything stupid, are you?"

Dipper looks at her, but doesn't answer.

"You are!" Mabel exclaims, "Don't you dare, Dipper. Focus on getting us out of here, don't go after her, OK? Don't."

"She needs to be stopped," he states simply, "her power seems to be growing and I'm worried that she's no longer bound to the mansion, or won't be for much longer. That's why you're getting out of here and I'm going after her, to stop her before she can do more damage." _Before she can hurt you again…_

"Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford will be here tomorrow, let them deal with her, they're better equipped to deal with her. You even said yourself, nothing you have in your arsenal is strong enough to stop a ghost as powerful as she is," Mabel says, "I don't want you to get hurt or worse. Especially not for me."

"So what? I'm supposed to watch you suffer and not do anything about it?" he scoffs angrily, going after the last board with a desperate viciousness.

"Once we're out of here, I'll be fine," Mabel says, though she seems unsure, "and you're not doing nothing. You're getting us out of here, that's something. And you've protected me this whole night the best you can, that's something too. Who knows where I'd be right now if it weren't for you?"

Dipper hesitates, struggling with the board and then stops, lets it go and turns to her, "I can't lose you, Mabel." He feels almost foolish to realize he's on the verge of crying. _Bill was about to kill you…he stole you away and I almost lost you, I can't do it again, I can't…_

"You won't," Mabel promises soothingly, "but I can't lose you either. We leave this place together, or not at all."

Dipper bites his lip, draws a deep breath and nods, recognizing when Mabel's putting her foot down. She won't leave unless he's going too and he would rather she be safe than here. "OK. OK, fine," he agrees, "but if escaping this mansion isn't enough to save you…"

"Well, at least once we're both out of here we can get whatever we need to kick her butt back where it belongs," Mabel grins, "It will be fine."

"Your nose is bleeding again," Dipper comments with a worried frown, "How's your head?"

Mabel wipes her nose with the back of her hand, "Hurts, and it's getting worse," her eyes widen and she sharply turns her head to look at the piece of furniture covered in the black cloth in the corner, "I think you should hurry, bro-bro."

Dipper glances in that corner too and shivers. He doesn't like how close the desk where Mabel is sitting is to that corner, and knowing there's probably a mirror under that cloth makes him nervous, "Yeah," he nods, sensing a shift in tension in the room, a drop in the temperature. "Maybe you should get in the circle while I work," he suggests, "I've just got one board left."

"Yeah," she agrees, her voice quiet and strange. She starts to get up but wobbles, clutching her head with her injured hand, now unbandaged. He starts to go and help her but she waves him off, "I'm fine, just hurry and get us out of here, OK?"

The pain in her voice leaves him torn, wanting to make sure she's OK and help her get in the protective circle had had drawn around her when she was unconscious, but the pressing need to escape and get Mabel to safety wins over and he pries at the board with as much force as he can, growling in frustration when it seems to be more stubborn than the other ones he managed to get off.

He can hear Mabel behind him groan and spares a quick glance to see she's made it back to the circle, but she's on her knees, clutching her head in pain looking shaky and weak, a small trickle of blood escaping her nose. "Mabel, are you, OK?"

"Yeah, just hurry," she whimpers, "we don't have much time."

"I've almost got it," he assures her, wondering if in her state she'll be strong enough to climb down the rope she made with the sheets. She can barely stand, how could she climb down? Especially with her hand; even if he rebandaged it, the climb would still aggravate the cuts and would hurt a lot and she might not be able to grip the sheets properly.

"I'm OK to climb down," Mabel assures him.

"Are you sure?" Dipper asks, not realizing he expressed his concerns out loud, though he was certain he hadn't.

"I have to be," she replies.

Dipper nods and gets back to work, still worried. Finally, he's able to pry the last board off the window, "Got it!" Dipper declares triumphantly. Mabel makes a strained noise to affirm she heard him but all it tells him is that something is seriously wrong. "Mabel?" he rushes to her side, kneeling next to her and resting his hand on her back, alarmed by how much she's trembling, "what's going on?"

"Sh-she's on to us…I can h-hear her," she whimpers, "in m-my head…screaming. She's…she won't… I…"

"Come on," he tries to help pull her to her feet but she resists.

"Dipper…I c-can't…"

 _How can she be doing this to her? Has Elizabeth escaped the mirror? Where is she?_ Dipper wonders worriedly, trying to help Mabel get to the window as he tries to figure out the logistics of how he could possibly carry her while climbing down. The summer in Gravity Falls made him much stronger, but strong enough to carry her down a rope made of sheets? Despite what she said, she's clearly in no shape to go down on her own.

"Come on Mabel, we're almost out of here," he says, trying to help her move but she's so tense and won't budge, "don't fight me, please, we can do this!"

"I'm trying," she whimpers, "she w-won't let me… _She's_ the one fighting me. She's in my head...it hurts so much!"

Dipper looks back at the mirror covered in black cloth and sees it's still covered, but he had already looked around the room and there was no other sign of a mirror anywhere. So unless she escaped…

"The window," he mutters, letting her go to rush back to the window, no longer covered in boards. The window had been so dusty that there was no reflection, but the window looks impossibly clean now, and he can see his own reflection clear as day in the darkness. He looks at where Mabel is through the window and sees her on her knees, grasping her head and burying her face, crying, and a dark figure looming over her, wrapping their arms around his sister's faint reflection, a dark shadow covering her like a shroud.

He looks back at Mabel, but there's no figure and looks back at the window and it's still there. "Leave her alone!" he snaps, grabbing one of the boards and smashing the window with it. A cool burst of wind rushes into the room. He smashes it again and again until all the glass is shattered, most of it on the grass outside below. It seems to break the connection between Mabel and Elizabeth and she lets out a gasp and goes limp, collapsing to the floor to lay on her side, gasping for breath.

Dipper rushes to her, kneeling by her side, "Mabel, are you OK?"

She coughs, nodding, tucking her injured hand close to her. "I…I can s-still hear h-her though…" she stammers breathlessly with a whimper. She shakily pushes herself up, visibly grateful when Dipper helps, "She's angry."

"I'm not letting her get you," Dipper promises, trying not to react when he sees dark red streaks leaving trails down her face from her eyes as well as her nose, though thankfully not as severely as before.

"I'm more worried about what she wants to do with you," Mabel says as Dipper helps pull her to her feet.

"Me? You're the one who's been taking the brunt end of her attacks," Dipper exclaims, taking on most of Mabel's weight as she leans heavily against him and they make their way to the window.

"Sh-she says she's going t-to kill you," Mabel murmurs, "but I think she n-needs me alive."

 _A fate worse than death…_

"Then why is she going after _you_?"

"She's testing me? Preparing me? I don't know," Mabel whimpers painfully.

"Preparing you for what?"

"I…I um, I don't know…"

Dipper shakes his head, knowing she's keeping stuff from him, but until they're both safe, there's no point discussing it further, not when they're so close to escaping, "Forget it right now, it's time to get out of here."

"Well," Mabel says with a weak smile, feebly attempting to look on the bright side, despite the obvious pain she's in, "at least you solved the problem of how to get the window open."

"Yeah," he agrees, returning the smile though on the inside he wants to cry because he knows she's trying to be OK for his sake, and that only fuels his need to protect her and get her to safety.

As Mabel leans heavily against the wall, Dipper pushes the heavy desk closer to the window and ties one end of the sheet rope securely to the leg, pulling on it with all his weight to make sure it'll hold them then tosses the other end out of the window and climbs out onto the wide ledge outside, a little nervous about the height, but mostly because of his worry for Mabel. It's only the second floor of the three-storey mansion, and there is a slight hill so it's not that far down, but falling would hurt a lot, especially with all the broken glass on the ground.

"Come on, you go first," Dipper says, holding his hand out for her.

"Promise me you'll be right behind me," Mabel demands, hesitating, cradling her cut hand to her chest.

"I swear."

Mabel nods and reaches for Dipper's hand but when her hand reaches the threshold of the window she yelps, startled, and pulls her hand back.

"What's wrong?" Dipper asks worriedly.

She shakes her head and reaches again but the same thing happens. "Dipper…I can't…"

"What do you mean you can't?" he climbs back inside, _No, no nonoono…_ he thinks, having an idea of what's happening but refusing to believe it. He stands behind Mabel and pushes her forward, "Come on, you— _we_ , have to get out of here."

When Mabel gets to the threshold of the window this time, they hear a crackle like electricity and an invisible force shoves Mabel back, throwing her into Dipper and making them both topple to the floor. Dipper pushes himself up and returns to the window, squinting against the strong wind outside rushing through the window. He tentatively reaches out, expecting to feel an invisible barrier or something but nothing happens.

When he turns around to help Mabel he freezes, instinctively looking at the black cloth in the corner, flapping in the wind, revealing a wardrobe with a wide mirror on the door. He can see the reflection of the room, partially concealed by the cloth. He can see Mabel's reflection on the floor, glowing faintly from the glow sticks around her neck and a figure standing behind her, partially hidden by the cloth, but showing clear as day. He can see her black skirt, and two pale hands gripping the sides of Mabel's head.

"Let go of her!" Dipper screams, shoving at the spot where Elizabeth should be standing, but nothing's there, "Leave her alone!"

"Dipper…you have to go without me," Mabel whispers, her eyes wide with terror, "It's no use… Sh-she won't let me leave b-but you…y-you're free to go." She cries out in pain, grasping her head with both hands, "You have to go _now_!" she exclaims desperately, in a panic, through gritted teeth, "Get out of here while you st-still can!"

 _Why did you leave me here?_ _In this HELL?_ Dipper can practically see and hear the apparition at the piano, accusing him and his gut twists in knots at the thought.

"Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you behind!"

"Please!" Mabel begs, "She says that if you stay and try to stop her she will _kill_ you, understand? And she _will_ , I saw it…I saw how she'll do it and I won't be able to stop it. Please! Just go!"

"No, I'm not leaving you!" Dipper insists, grabbing her arms, making her look at him and see how serious he is. Tears of blood streams down Mabel's face, but her eyes are wide and clear, terrified and desperate. "We're going to figure this out. You said it yourself, we go together or not at all!"

"Dipper…" Mabel whimpers, "It's OK. I'll be fine." She pauses, as though listening to something only she could hear. She nods as she chokes back a sob. "Please, go."

"If you have to take someone, take me!" he exclaims, screaming into the mirror, furious and terrified. _What is she doing to her?_ He wonders helplessly, watching Elizabeth as she seems to be doing something to Mabel's reflection, casting a spell or something. He darts his eyes around the room, wondering what he could use to hold the cloth in place so it won't flutter in the wind and give Elizabeth an opening any longer. But would it even help? He's not entirely sure the wind is even natural.

"NO!" Mabel cries, "Don't. Don't Dipper! Not for me, _please_! I don't deserve it, it's time that for once, I face the consequences of my stupid, selfish actions. I'm not letting you get hurt because of me again!"

"What are you talking about?" he exclaims, baffled by her words that seem to come out of left field, "Whatever she's telling you they're just lies to manipulate you! You've done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve anything like this!"

"Just _go_! I'll be fine, _please_ Dipper, before she kills you!" Mabel begs, "She won't kill me, she says she needs me alive so I'll be OK. But _trust_ me, if you stay you won't be! I won't be able to save you!"

Mabel sounds so desperate and certain that for a second he considers it. How could he save her if he's dead? Maybe if she stays in the circle, if he left her with everything he has left in his arsenal to protect herself… He could get help. Stan and Ford would be there first thing in the morning, she would just have to hold on until he could bring in the cavalry… Elizabeth's still trapped in the mirror and if he covers it and weighs the cloth down somehow so the mirror will stay covered, or maybe if he broke it, it might hold her long enough, it _could_ work, and the other ghost doesn't seem to be as powerful as she is…

"Fight her," Dipper whispers, "don't let her win, Mabel. Hold on, OK? Can you do that?"

Mabel nods quickly.

"I'll come back with help, I promise…"

"I know," Mabel breaks down in sobs, clear tears mixed with blood falls down her face, "I know you will." She wraps her arms around him and he pulls her into a tight hug as she sobs into his shoulder. "Good bye Dipper…"

Dipper pushes away, hearing a disturbing finality to her good-bye, as though she doesn't believe that she'll ever see him again.

 _Where were you? You promised you'd come back and you didn't…_

He can't leave her. He can't. He won't.

Maybe the apparition at the piano was a trick, a hallucination to trap him and throw him off balance, but what if it wasn't? The whole encounter was so unsettling, ominous. She was crying blood too, and the cuts on her hand were exactly like Mabel's, only they made a more complete picture. What if there was more to that apparition? What if it was an omen? A warning? A vision of what's to come? From the looks of things, it's already starting to come true.

He could never leave Mabel behind, and if, for whatever reason he had no choice, he would always come back. But he _has_ a choice and he can't take the chance that the apparition was nothing more than a trick. What if something happened to keep him from returning? What if he comes back and it's too late to save her?

Maybe leaving to get help is the most logical decision, but he can't take that chance. He's not going to condemn his sister to a fate worse than death. If that means endangering himself, so be it. He'll always do what it takes to protect Mabel.

"No. Mabel, I'm not leaving you, I can't. I _won't,_ " Dipper says, "like you said, we leave together or not at all, and that's final."

"Dipper…" she sobs, "Please…b-before it's too late!" She cries out in pain, "Hurry! I'm fighting her but I c-can't much l-longer…y-you have t-to go! Now! Before she—"

All at once a powerful gust of wind blows through the room and Mabel goes silent and still, abruptly cut off midsentence as she falls limp.

"Mabel?" Dipper exclaims, "What's wrong?"

She doesn't respond. Instead she rises to her feet, her movements strange and unnaturally effortless as though she were pulled to her feet by invisible strings. When he sees her face, he's alarmed and unnerved to see it's completely expressionless. She stares blankly ahead of her towards the mirror and his breath quickens with fear when he sees that the black cloth has fallen completely off the wardrobe. Worse still is the image reflecting in the mirror.

Mabel's reflection is staring back at him, grinning a wide, sinister smile while Mabel's face remains blank, empty. Behind them Elizabeth stands, wearing the exact same grin on her face, looming over his sister's reflection, arms raised above her head, urging her forward like a puppeteer controlling a marionette, only the marionette is Mabel. Mabel's reflection takes a step and so does Mabel, but their movements are slightly out of sync, with Mabel a fraction slower than her reflection. If their facial expressions weren't so different, Dipper might not have noticed.

"Mabel?" he nudges her, and when that doesn't work he tries to pull her away as she takes another step forward. "Come on, snap out of it!"

"Foolish boy," Mabel says in a strange voice, her voice overlapping with a voice that's not her own, "you should've listened to your sister."

Before he can react, Mabel forcibly shoves him with more strength than humanly possible, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying. He instinctively holds up his arms to catch himself before he collides with the wall with a shooting pain up his right arm and a resounding crack of bone.

He screams in pain, grabbing his injured arm as he twists around to see Mabel standing at the mirror, motionless, expressionless, tears mixed with blood streaming down her face, her cut palm pressed against the glass and a strange glow of light forming between her hand and her reflection's. Though her expression remains neutral, Mabel releases a strangled, muffled cry, the wind swirls around her and the mirror, rustling the skirt of her dress and the loose strands of hair in her buns and the light glows brighter, illuminating the room.

"Mabel," he chokes out, finding that it hurts to breathe. He struggles to get up, but a strange, oppressive force seems to be weighing him down. All he can do is watch helplessly in horror as the reflective glass begins to ripple like water and Elizabeth's hand reaches through to grab Mabel's wrist and slowly, she begins to pull her into the mirror.

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading, I really hope you liked this chapter. Either way, I would love to hear any thoughts, theories, predictions, questions and criticisms you might have so please leave a comment! Even if you don't have anything to say, please leave a comment anyway so I know who's out there reading this. It would really mean a lot to me.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N Well, I spent about an hour and a half writing out personal shout outs to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and when I hit "Save" the site prompted me to log in again and none of it was saved. :-( Stupid site! Sorry, I don't have it in me to write it all out again but I want to thank you guys so very much for the reviews! It truly means a lot to me. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with self-doubt about my writing, I mean, I've rewritten so much of every chapter I'm sure my deleted scenes combined are about the same length as the final product, but when I finally upload new chapters and you guys come in with such wonderful comments, it really puts my mind at ease and encourages me to keep going. Situation 71, PrincessRainbowSparles, MysteriousMan13, Guest, GFJBR1982, Ahmend Samy, Shailkey, and missgravityfalls, thank you so much! You all had such wonderful things to say and made me so happy!

This chapter was going to be longer, but it was getting TOO long so I pretty much cut it in half so now it's _slightly_ shorter than my average chapter (which is already kind of long to begin with) but I think it works better this way. Hopefully it means less time between updates!

Without further ado, ENJOY!

* * *

 **Chapter Eight**

"Foolish boy," Mabel says, her lips moving, her voice making the sound but she's not the one speaking, not really, "you should've listened to your sister."

Her hands move against her will, shoving her brother with a remarkable strength and sending him flying. She inwardly cringes at the cry of agony escaping him when he lands, her instincts screaming at her to go to him, make sure he's OK, help him if he's not. But she doesn't move, she doesn't react. She can't. It's like her brain and her body are no longer connected, she has no control over her body, and yet she's fully awake and aware and can feel everything.

It's a strange sensation, to be so powerless, terrifying and surreal. She commands her body stop moving towards the mirror, but it's no use, just as it was no use trying to keep herself from hurting her brother. She couldn't even do a thing to soften the blow.

 _I'm so sorry Dipper,_ she thinks helplessly. Her heart pounding as she approaches the mirror, horrified by her reflection. The sinister smile that doesn't match her expressionless face, the blood flowing from her eyes and nose. _No wonder Dipper was freaking out and worried about me._

Then absurdly, she laments, _My costume is ruined. I worked so hard on it too._ But the thought is short lived, a fleeting thought, gone from her mind as quickly as it arrived. The biggest concern on her mind is the vision she had seen shortly before all control of her body was stolen from her. Dipper, murdered by her own hands.

She saw it happen, she saw herself grabbing his throat, she saw him struggle and fight, saying words she can't hear as his eyes glaze over and roll to the back of his head, completely lifeless.

The thought of being forced to commit such a wicked deed, and being completely powerless to stop it, as a prisoner of her own body has her terrified and she knows that the only way to prevent it, to save Dipper, is to surrender. To let Elizabeth take her and use her for whatever sacrifice she needs to be free.

That was the deal after all, if she willingly surrendered herself, Dipper would be free to go unharmed. But she had tried to trick the ghost, she had tried to escape and fight her, she tried to back out of the deal and Elizabeth had no reason to keep her end of the bargain. He may be free to go, but that doesn't mean she's obligated to leave him alone, especially since he's also trying to stop her.

 _I'm sorry Dipper, I'm so sorry,_ Mabel thinks, _I never meant to hurt you and yet I always do. I'm so stupid._

But there's the Catch-22. Try to escape, try to fight the unrelenting attacks on her mind, Dipper gets hurt, surrender to Elizabeth, Dipper would be safe, but he would be devastated because she would be gone.

Up until now Mabel chose to fight, no matter how much it hurts. No matter how much strain and agony it puts on her mind and body. At first it was the better choice. Mabel never wanted to sacrifice herself. She only said it because she knows Dipper would have given himself up in a heartbeat to save her, and Elizabeth clearly knows it too. She believed that she and Dipper could escape and defeat her, but simply staying awake has taken up all her energy, making her pretty useless, and now Dipper's hurt and if she doesn't surrender _now,_ Elizabeth will use her to kill him.

Mabel could feel Elizabeth trying to snake her way into her head, to detach her mind from her body and take control from inside the mirror, using her reflection. It took her a while to realize what Elizabeth was doing, but Mabel fought it, she fought with everything she had. Just speaking to Dipper, to try and convince him to leave while he still could, wasted precious energy needed to fight. And it was a battle she was losing.

And now she's lost.

Elizabeth used her to hurt her brother, and now the only thing keeping her from using her body to strangle him to death is the fact that she _needs_ Mabel to surrender willingly. For now they're at an impasse. If Elizabeth acts on her murderous intent, Mabel would have no incentive to surrender so neither of them can make their move.

But that doesn't stop Elizabeth from trying another tactic or two to wear her down. Even while trapped in the mirror Elizabeth had managed to worm her way into Mabel's head. All she needed was a reflective surface it seems to get an opening. And then it was a constant deluge of painful truths flooding through Mabel's head.

Truth about her selfishness, her foolish naivety and blind trust in people, her tendency to act before she thinks and how it all lead to nearly ending the world. How it time and time again brought her brother pain, because Dipper would give up everything to make her happy and she knows it. She used it to her advantage over and over, and what kind of person is she to manipulate the people she cares about like that?

 _I made my mistakes!_ She inwardly screams, knowing Elizabeth can hear her, just as she can hear her taunts, _I learned from them!_

 _Have you, child? Then why do you keep making the same mistakes over and over and over? I told you, it's you're destined to cause nothing but pain for those you care about, especially your brother. Surrender, spare him the lifelong pain of having you as a sister._

 _No!_ she cries silently, refusing to give up, still fighting even now, even though she's lost all control of her body because she knows how stupid it would be. It wouldn't be a sacrifice that would spare him from pain, it would crush him completely, and they would both suffer because of it.

 _Then watch helplessly as I make you kill him,_ Elizabeth threatens, _Or perhaps I give him one last chance to save you. I'm sure if I made the offer again he would accept on your behalf? Has he not already begged me to take him instead? It's all the same to me._

That does it.

 _OK!_ Mabel screams silently, _I surrender! I am willing. Please, leave my brother alone! Don't hurt him, leave all of my family alone and I won't fight you anymore._

Elizabeth laughs, but only she can hear it. The sound like a jackhammer to her skull, painful and relentless. But it works. Elizabeth agrees to spare him, so instead of going to kneel over Dipper while he's down, instead of wrapping her fingers around his throat and squeezing tight until his heart stops beating, like Mabel saw in her vision, Elizabeth guides her body towards the mirror.

She makes Mabel rest her palm against the glass, and somehow Mabel understands what she's doing. Elizabeth needs to complete the mark on her palm to make the deal official and truly binding. The Mark of Cipher. Mabel has no idea how she knows what it's called, or how she knows that once it's completed, no matter what Mabel does, if she resists or fights, it will no longer make a difference. She'll belong to Elizabeth, and the ghost will be free to do whatever she wants with her. Resisting at that point will only make her fate worse than it already is.

A bright light forms between her palm and her reflection's, supernatural wind swirls around her, Elizabeth stands behind her reflection, grinning wickedly, and Mabel is suddenly overwhelmed with a burning agony that moves from her hand to course through her body, like the blood in her veins had been replaced by liquid fire.

She's able to produce a sound. A guttural cry that escapes her closed lips, her body making no visible reaction to the incredible pain pouring through her.

More images flash in her head, like they did before when Elizabeth first attacked her, and again a few times ever since. But this time, instead of moving so quickly she can't process what they are or what they mean, everything around her seems to slow down to a stop and she can make them out now.

Snippets of the past. Brief glimpses of scenes that tell Mabel a more complete story.

First she sees a flash of Elizabeth playing the piano with her father Henry and her daughter Abigail listening beside her. All smiling, and happy, laughing. Abigail dances with her grandfather and the music is beautiful but then Elizabeth stops playing, clutches her head and then shrugging off her concerned family with a smile, she excuses herself, her smile fading once her back is turned.

Suddenly in a dark room Elizabeth kneels in front of an alter. Blood is falling from her nose and eyes as she chants words that sound like gibberish, but Mabel recognizes them anyway. They were the same words Gideon had used to summon Bill, and sure enough he appears.

"Oh, hey there Third Eye," he greets with a wave, as though speaking to an old friend, "What is it you want this time?"

"I have served you faithfully Master, have I not?"

"Sure," he agrees, "one of my prized students. Why do you have to ask?"

"Then why must you punish me with this affliction?"

"Affliction?" he seems confused but then he chuckles, "Oh yeah! You mean the whole bleeding from every orifice on your face, the headaches, the dizziness, _that_ affliction!"

"I'm struggling to conceal it from my family," Elizabeth adds, "I do not want to worry them. But it's getting worse. This happened during my last séance, I was able to convince my clients that it was part of the job as a clairvoyant, but I gave poor Mrs. Northwest quite a fright and she fainted!"

"And why are you blaming _me_ for it?" Bill demands, "Illness happens. Death happens. It sucks but it's a part of life."

"What are you saying?"

"You're _dying,_ Third Eye," he speaks as though she's simple.

"But how?"

"Tumor, in your brain. There's no cure," he shrugs, like it's no big deal.

"But _you_ can fix me, can't you Master?"

"Hmm, let me think about—no."

Elizabeth looks shocked, "No? _No?!_ But why? Surely there's something you can do."

"There's not. Your illness is natural, inevitable, I can't fix _that,_ " Bill replies, "that's above my paygrade. I mean, maybe in a hundred years, technology might catch up…but you don't have that long, do you?"

"How long do I have?"

"Well, definitely not a hundred years, am I right?" he laughs.

"Master, you mock me."

"OK, OK," his chuckles die down and he holds out his hands placatingly, "look, I can't cure you, but what I can do is one better."

"And what's that?"

"Immortality can be yours, but it's not without a little sacrifice," Bill says, "I can teach you a spell, a spell to transfer your soul into another body."

"Like possession?"

"Sort of," Bill explains, "but while a typical possession is temporary, this would be more like permanently relocating your soul into another body until that one is no longer useful and you can go through the process again. You'll essentially be immortal, like me."

Elizabeth's eyes widen and Mabel watches as something shifts and she grins, "Teach me, Master."

The scene shifts again revealing Abigail lying dead on that same altar, Elizabeth in tears, screaming, "You said it would work! You said she fit the criteria and that it would work! Why didn't it work?!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to mention, the spell won't work unless you're dead first," he chuckles, "Oops, my bad. But to be fair, you being a psychic should know only ghosts or demons can possess a person. How else could you have permanently transferred your soul to another body without possessing it first?"

"You tricked me!" she hisses.

"Oh relax," Bill scoffs, "I told you up front that it would require sacrifice. I was testing you, silly, and I must say, I'm impressed with your level of commitment! You barely even hesitated! That's kinda _dark_! I knew you'd make a great apprentice!"

" _Now_ where will I find a suitable host?" Elizabeth demands, and the fact she holds such little regard for her own daughter has Mabel feeling sick.

"Patience," Bill said, "the right host will come along some day, and when they do, you'll know."

The scene shifts again to show Elizabeth looking thin and frail leaning over the railing of the mezzanine overlooking the main ballroom, Bill hovering beside her.

"Don't know why you're such a chicken now," Bill groans, "you'll be dead soon either way. Everything will be fine. Like I said, you need to be patient and hang out around here a while until the right host I've picked out for you arrives."

"When will that be?"

"Not long," he replies, "I promise. Now would you rather let nature take its course and painfully whither away or take your destiny in your hands?"

Elizabeth nods, takes a white silk rope tied into a noose and wraps it around her neck, climbs onto the railing where the other end of the noose is securely tied and jumps, snapping her neck before she can hit the ground. Bill takes her hand as she dangles lifelessly and pulls her ghost from her body.

"Now what?"

"Wait for me, hang out. Have fun scaring your guests, whatever."

"But…where are you going? I thought you were staying here, with me."

"Yeah about that," Bill says, making the action of nervously tugging at the non-existent collar of his bowtie, "I have to run some errands and whatnot. Taking over an entire dimension takes a lot of work and planning, you know."

"I suppose," she concedes, "Do what you need to do, I'll wait for you."

"Don't have much choice, do you?" Bill chuckles, "See you around!"

The scene cuts away revealing Henry Hartwell sitting in an ornate leather chair, pistol in hand. He puts the barrel in his mouth and pulls the trigger.

His spirit materializes as a dark, featureless mass. Elizabeth's ghost takes her father's hand and they both vanish.

Suddenly the scene is in the séance room where a young Granny May-May is sitting in Elizabeth's chair, her future husband Alexander Campbell holds her hand as she cries in pain as unbeknownst to him the ghost of Elizabeth is screaming and clawing at her in rage.

The other two men in the group watch in horror and confusion as May gasps in agony and blood starts falling from her nose and eyes.

"May? Darling," Alex exclaims, "What is it? May? May! Please speak to me!"

"We h-have to banish her!" May cries, "Her intent reaches b-beyond a s-simple haunting… She's in leagues with a _demon_."

"A demon?" Mr. Parsons, the proprietor of the Hartwell Estate exclaims in disbelief.

"A demon of dreams, chaos and evil…she says she will be his Queen…we must stop her!"

"Where is she now, Miss Holland?" Alex's business partner Samuel Meyer asks, holding an old camera, snapping pictures, trying to remain professional despite his obvious apprehension.

May screams in agony and falls limp. Everyone in the room looks confused and concerned, but Mabel can see what they cannot. She watches helplessly as Elizabeth's ghost overtakes her great-grandmothers body by force, and when she opens her eyes, it's Elizabeth who's looking back at them.

She holds out her hands and the three men are thrown back, Mr. Meyer and Mr. Parsons fall unconscious and but Mabel's great-grandfather only sits in a daze, "Get out of my house!" she screams, "You are not welcome!"

"May?"

"No, not May. Not your precious Mabel," Elizabeth taunts, "but she can hear you, she can see you. And if you don't leave my home, _now_ , she will be completely aware as I use her to murder you."

"Do your worst, but let her go," he begs.

"You love her, don't you?" she asks, "You know what kind of fate you would condemn her to if I do my worst? They'll send her to the nuthouse, charge her guilty of your murder and her defense will only make her sound too insane to see the light of day. Not to mention the fact you'll be leaving her with the shame of being an unwed mother…"

"What?!" he exclaims, his eyes moving to her belly.

"Oh she didn't tell you?" she raises a brow, "You didn't question why she wanted to push the wedding date up sooner?" She holds her hands to her stomach, "I'm thinking it's a boy." She frowns, "Too bad he won't inherit his mother's gift, but don't be too upset, a gift like ours is typically only for us ladies. You've made a good choice for a wife, I like her. She truly is gifted and it may be against the rules, but I think I shall keep her anyway. I've grown tired of waiting and besides, I've always wanted a son."

"You monster!" he hisses, lunging for her.

The scene shifts again and May/Elizabeth is tied to a chair in a circle of salt and various markings, unconscious and looking worse for wear. The men are gathered in a corner, discussing their options, all look shaken and weary.

"She's too powerful," Mr. Meyer shakes his head.

"Well, you _have_ to get rid of her somehow!" Mr. Parsons exclaims, "You heard what Miss Holland said, she's in leagues with a demon and is up to something wicked. I can't be running a hotel with this monster dwelling within!"

"We need to use a stronger exorcism," Meyer replies grimly.

"But another exorcism could kill her," Alex murmurs defeatedly.

"Alex," Mr. Meyer says, putting his hand on his colleagues arm, "May knew that this would be dangerous, we all knew the danger…"

"Get away from me, Sam!" Alex hisses, pulling away from him, "We knew the dangers, yes, but…I can't lose her!"

Mabel watches them a moment and then her attention moves to her great-grandmother where Bill forms behind her.

"Master," Elizabeth whispers, using May's body to speak, her voice hoarse and weak, "save me."

"Save yourself," Bill shrugs.

"But…"

"Just kidding," he laughs.

"So you will save me?"

"Nope, let them exorcise you."

"Master? But then what will happen to me?"

"You'll be fine. Trust me," he says, "but you need to let these morons escape, especially this one, the one you're wearing right now."

"Why?"

"Because, she's got the gift, obviously. That means her kids will potentially have the gift too and as you know, only someone with a gift similar to yours could possibly contain you, and this one, the one you're wearing is too old to survive the Transference Spell. It might take a generation or two for it to happen, but your ideal host will come from this bloodline."

"A generation or two?" she scoffs, "You said it wouldn't be long. I've already waited nearly thirty years."

"You're still young," Bill says, "When you get to be over a billion years old, a few decades is nothing. It will be worth the wait. This, _this_ here, is the bloodline you've been waiting for."

"Are you certain, Master?"

"Yep. There's great potential here, can't you feel it?" Bill asks, "Let them exorcise you, let them think they've won. It will weaken you and your haunting will be reduced to random noises fools will blame on the pipes or nothing more than their imaginations. But you will also sleep, and time will seem to pass by in a flicker until your perfect host comes along to liberate you from this state."

"And she will be of this lineage?"

"She will be of not one but two powerful bloodlines," Bill says, and as he speaks seemingly random images and symbols flash in his eye, too quick to fully process but Mabel does recognize the Pine Tree and Shooting Star symbol at one point, "and it is her blood that will awaken you, bind her to you and you will be stronger than ever before. She will be yours…well, first she will have to be willing to give herself to you, but I'm sure a devious witch such as yourself can muster up something that will convince her."

"And then I will be alive again," Elizabeth grins, "and we can be together at last."

"Uh, yeah sure," Bill says, but only Mabel seems to catch his non-committal tone, "you and me babe."

"Will you stay with me?"

"You know I have things to do."

"At least until I am asleep?"

The scene shifts and a ragged looking Alex is speaking words that are familiar and yet Mabel can't quite understand, standing in a circle and holding hands with the other two men surrounding her possessed great-grandmother who writhes and screams in the chair. Bill hanging out in the background.

Bill suddenly looks in Mabel's direction, his eye showing confusion and then amusement, "Hello! How'd you get here? I thought I sensed an unwelcome audience! Little out of time and place, aren't you?"

Elizabeth, still possessing May, follows his line of sight, "You!" she exclaims, her eyes wide and manic. Mabel startles, takes a step back and stumbles backwards, but before she can recover Bill materializes directly in front of her.

He grabs her wrist and twists her arm so her palm is facing up, his eye focusing with mild interest. She wants to resist and pull away from his grip, tell him off, _anything_ , but she can't. She can't move, she can't speak, she can't do anything.

While her focus is on him, she's aware of screaming in the background, of her great-grandmother falling limp as Elizabeth is expelled from her body and her great-grandfather rushing to her aid, melting with relief as he wraps his arms around her and they hold each other, both broken but alive.

"You're not supposed to be here," Bill mutters dangerously, roughly releasing her wrist and lightly poking her between the eyes, "Boop!"

The scene before her suddenly vanishes and the next thing Mabel knows she's falling. Falling, falling, falling into a seemingly endless black void.

* * *

A/N Yep, that looks like a good place to end it! (The chapter that is) Thanks for reading! I hope you guys liked this chapter and that it answered some of the questions you might have while leaving more questions. Please let me know what you think, good or bad. Thoughts? Theories? Criticisms? I would love to hear from you!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N So sorry for the delay. I have a lot going on in my life, keeping me from updating. I haven't given up, I just haven't had the time or energy to write with my RL issues, and now I'm going to university so I have even less time. I do have this story outlined in detail and over the holidays I'm going to try and get more written, at least two more chapters (out of an anticipated four or five), during the holiday break. This one's a little short, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Chris, thank you for the encouragement. I haven't logged onto the site for months so I didn't see your kind messages. Thank you, it means a lot. Thank you to everyone who has left a review and has been so kind to me. I've been struggling a lot in my personal life, and you guys help keep me going. I'm sorry it's taking me forever to update my stories, but I appreciate your kind words and patience more than any of you can realize.

* * *

 **Previously on "The Clairvoyant's Curse"**

Since it's been so long, I thought maybe you guys might want a recap of what's happened so far.

On Halloween night, dressed as Luke and Leia, Dipper and Mabel go to explore a haunted abandoned mansion in their hometown of Piedmont. Stan had asked them to do a quick recon before he and Ford, get there to deal with the haunting tomorrow, having been delayed in their travels. (Weirdmageddon has caused an influx in paranormal activity and now they are travelling the world to deal with it) The haunting is meant to be a minor one, and they have no reason to expect there to be anything too dangerous. Meanwhile the twins are dealing with post-Weirdmageddon anxiety, Dipper's afraid of losing Mabel and Mabel is wracked with guilt because of the part she played in starting Weirdmageddon and is afraid to tell everyone the truth.

They enter through the basement, and while they look around, Mabel thinks she found something and is compelled to reach into a crack in the wall and cuts her palm, which seems to 'awaken' the spirits. When the ghost of a woman appears with 'off the charts' level of strength, they make a run for it but are attacked by another ghost and discover they are trapped in the mansion. They find refuge and Mabel reveals that she feels sorry for the woman ghost, Elizabeth Hartwell, who was a clairvoyant medium and was accused of witchcraft when her daughter died. When Elizabeth finds them she threatens Dipper for breaking into her home and Mabel offers to help her, wrongly believing her to be innocent. Elizabeth knocks Dipper out and reads Mabel's mind, using her guilt over Weirdmageddon to manipulate her into sacrificing herself for Elizabeth. Mabel agrees in an attempt to trick her and Dipper traps Elizabeth in a mirror and they try to escape. Even while trapped, Elizabeth has a hold on Mabel and taunts her within her mind causing Mabel to suffer terrible headaches and nosebleeds. The twins are attacked again and Dipper is given a vision of an older Mabel who has an image of Bill Cipher burned onto her hand, dressed like Elizabeth and accuses him of leaving her to rot inside the mansion. The vision is actually a trap to keep him in place as a chandelier is dropped on him but he's mysteriously saved, possibly by Mabel who is connected to Elizabeth since their deal and seems to have some of Elizabeth's abilities. Dipper finds Mabel bleeding from her nose and eyes and unconscious and they retreat to a room on the second floor.

When Mabel comes to they try to escape through the window. While Dipper tries to remove the boards on the window, Mabel finds photographs that reveal that Elizabeth was a worshiper of Bill and that part of the team who exorcised her in the past were their Great-Grandparents and that their great grandmother was a medium. Learning that Bill Cipher was involved has Dipper freaking out and as they try to escape they discover that while Dipper can leave, Mabel is still supernaturally trapped in the mansion because of her deal with Elizabeth. Elizabeth meanwhile manages to remove the cloth from a mirror in the room and though still trapped in the mirror is able to take control of Mabel like a puppet. Mabel, under Elizabeth's control attacks Dipper and puts her hand on the mirror where Bill's image is burned onto her palm which seals the deal. Elizabeth starts to pull her into the mirror and Mabel has a vision of the past. She learns that Elizabeth was dying and made a deal to live forever and he taught her a spell that would allow her to permanently transfer her soul into another body and that she is meant to be Bill's queen once he takes over.

OK, that's were we are so far. So here's the next chapter!  
Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Nine**

"Mabel!" Dipper cries, gritting his teeth, fighting the oppressive force holding him down and the pain wracking his body. She's still unresponsive and pliant, Elizabeth's pale hand gripping his sister's wrist and pulling her closer to her, into the mirror.

Her actions are slow, and Dipper hopes it's because Mabel's resisting her somehow, but there's no way to tell. Mabel still seems to be deep in a trance, under Elizabeth's control, and there's nothing he can do but watch helplessly. He can't get to her, he can't get up. Something invisible keeps pushing him down.

"Mabel, if you can hear me, fight her! Fight her, _please_!"

In a brief flicker of movement, Mabel blinks, turns her head towards him and with her free hand reaches out for him. Her lips move soundlessly, forming the words, _Dipper, I'm sorry._ But in that same moment, her eyes roll back and she collapses limply into Elizabeth's waiting arms where she is completely submerged into the liquified glass of the mirror.

Whatever force is holding him down is instantly lifted and he scrambles to his feet, ignoring the pain in his arm and chest and rushes towards them. When he reaches the mirror, the glass has turned solid once again and Mabel is out of his reach.

"No!" he screams, pounding on the surface in desperation, "Let her go!" He knows how to trap a ghost in a mirror, but get a living person _out_? Would that even be possible?

"Too late, boy," Elizabeth smirks, "We made a deal and she belongs to me now. Stay out of my way if you want to survive."

"Let her go, _please_!" he begs, out of options, "Take me if you have to, take me! Whatever you want, I'll do anything, take me instead, just let her go!"

"You?" she scoffs, "Oh child, such a sweet, foolish thing. Why would I want you? You're useless to me. You've always been useless to me. Besides, you were my master's vessel, I couldn't take you even if I wanted to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he hisses, "What are you going to do with her?"

Elizabeth grins her wide, sinister smile, "You're a clever boy, I'm sure you could figure it out." Her smile fades and she continues in a low, menacing tone, "Now get out. Leave and never return. There is nothing you can do for your sister now. If you try and stop me, not only will you get yourself killed, but you will only make her suffering far worse than it needs to be."

With that, Elizabeth, adjusts her grip on Mabel and carries her out of view, and all Dipper can see is his own reflection staring back at him.

"No!" he cries, pounding on the glass once again, even though he knows it's futile. "Mabel hold on! I'll find a way to save you!" he calls out, not knowing if she could hear him, and having no idea what to do next.

He closes his eyes and sinks to the floor, spent.

"Come on, think, Dipper, think!" he scolds himself, banging the back of his head against the mirror. He draws a deep breath and immediately he flinches with agony when the pain in his arm and his ribcage flares with a shocking intensity. He doubles over, cradling his arm, tears welling in his eyes and blurring his vision.

Hissing with pain he slowly picks himself up and limps over to the desk, gingerly sitting in the chair. He pulls up the sleeve of his shirt and looks down at his arm, but even after adjusting to the darkness, it's too dark to see properly. Mabel had been the main light source with the glow sticks around her neck and his prop light sabre was across the room near his backpack, turned off and right now he hurts too much to move any further.

He delicately brushes his fingers along his arm, and nearly vomits when he feels a distinct and solid bump under the skin where there shouldn't be one. He breathes through his nose, trying to keep from crying out, forcing himself to stay conscious. The adrenaline from trying to save Mabel has worn off, and the pain is hitting him full force. His arm is broken and its _bad,_ and it hurts to breathe so he probably has either broken or badly bruised ribs as well. He can't do this. He can't save Mabel in this condition, what is he supposed to do now?

 _Come on, Dipper, keep it together, Mabel's counting on you!_

Just thinking about what's happened to Mabel has him gripped with grief. He couldn't stop Elizabeth from taking her, he couldn't save her and if he hadn't been so eager to explore the mansion, she wouldn't be in this mess.

 _We should've just gone trick-or-treating,_ he thinks, _and wait until tomorrow when Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan will be here. Why couldn't I have just waited?_

A part of him realizes how silly he's being, and if Mabel hadn't been taken, she probably would point it out to him. They had no reason to think this recon mission would be as dangerous as it has turned out to be, and Dipper had been wanting so badly to be involved in the investigations and missions their Grunkles have been on since Weirdmageddon turned the paranormal world upside-down. They certainly had no reason to think this particular mission would end up being so dangerous and so personal and that Bill had a history with this particular haunting.

Besides, they spent an entire summer neck deep in this kind of thing. After all they had been through together, they weren't exactly novices.

Of course, Weirdmageddon changed everything. Mabel had been missing four days, Bill was going to kill her and he had been directly confronted with the fact that Mabel could have _died_. They all could have died. Something about being faced with not only his own mortality, but also that of the people he cares about, it has changed him.

That was why he never wanted Mabel to come on this mission, even when he thought it was something as simple and basic as a measly level three haunting. But again, it's silly because when Stan called and told him about the case, he had asked her to come with him. One more Mystery Twin adventure. It was supposed to be quick and easy and they should be out trick-or-treating right _now_. But then out of nowhere this fear that something terrible could happen to her gripped at him, and he had tried to talk her out of coming.

At the time Dipper tried to rationalize how ridiculous he was being, worrying about Mabel who, for all her silliness, has always been strong and capable and there's no one else he would rather have to watch his back. But now that Mabel is gone, taken by an evil entity who seems to have targeted herfrom the very beginning, maybe he _should_ have listened to his gut.

 _What am I going to do?_

He had been prepared for a lot of things for this excursion, but not for what he actually needs to save Mabel. What he has is useless. He can't go and face Elizabeth without anything to fight her with, and going in without a plan could get them both killed. Besides, for all he knows Elizabeth is going to keep her inside the mirror, how could he even get to her? What he needs is help. Ford would know what to do, but he and Stan aren't supposed to be in Piedmont until tomorrow morning and Mabel might not have that long.

 _Probably should have left to get help when I had the chance._ Dipper thinks, but even if he could go back and do it again, there's still no way he could've left Mabel behind, even though going for help was their best option. He can still hear the broken voice of the apparition of and older Mabel accusing him of leaving her, and he knows that image will haunt him for a long time.

It's not just that, though. Because of him, because he had planned to leave her behind to be Ford's apprentice, when the Rift broke, Mabel was all alone at the epicenter of it all. If he didn't hurt Mabel's feelings so badly that she ran away that night, maybe Weirdmageddon could have been prevented. And even if there was no way they could've stopped Weirdmageddon from happening, the outcome could have been so much different. She might have never been Bill's prisoner, and he wouldn't have had to fend for himself for so long. They could have faced it together from the very beginning and put a stop to Bill so much sooner.

Dipper can't understand why Mabel seems to be carrying such a heavy weight of guilt on her shoulders. He was the reason she ran off, he was the reason she had felt so hurt and betrayed. She took the Rift by accident, she didn't know what it was and it was cracking anyway, it's not her fault it broke. Why could she not see that? The worst part about the whole thing is that Dipper has a strong suspicion that her misplaced guilt is what led Mabel to surrender to Elizabeth in the first place.

 _I'm not going to let you sacrifice yourself for me, Mabel. I'm going to save you, somehow, but I don't know what to do._

He's low on options. Right now, looking for Elizabeth and Mabel by himself in his state with no means to defend himself or rescue Mabel isn't really an option, at least, it's not a _good_ option. And because of his arm, escaping to get help and weapons isn't an option either. There's no way he can climb down now. And waiting for help to arrive, when Stan and Ford get into town tomorrow, isn't an option because there's no time to wait.

He blinks back tears as the pain in his arm flares once again, with more intensity than before and he realizes that he needs to take care of it before he can do anything else.

With a wince, he fights through the pain and nausea, protectively tucks his arm close to his aching chest and limps to his backpack, rummaging through the contents as Elizabeth's words replay through his head.

" _There's nothing you can do for your sister now."_

Her words make him grin slightly, because while they were said to intimidate and scare him, quite successfully too, he knows that she has to be lying. The situation seems incredibly hopeless, but it's her threat that she would kill him if he tries to stop her that exposes the lie and ironically gives him a glimmer of hope that Mabel will be OK. Why would she make such threats if there truly is nothing Dipper can do?

He holds on to that hope, because right now, it's all he has.

 _I don't know what it is yet, but I know there is_ something _that I can do to stop you._

"Hold on, Mabel," he groans, determined as he wracks his brain trying to figure out what he has in his arsenal that might help. He flicks on his lightsaber and holds it over his open backpack and frowns. He's out of holy water and all he has left is some salt, sage, a candle and a mostly used up first aid kit. There's not much he can do against a powerful spirit like Elizabeth with what he has left in supplies, except make her angry, but he should have something in the first aid kit that should hopefully help him deal with his broken arm.

The temperature in the room suddenly drops dramatically and he gasps as he looks around and spots a shimmering black mass in the doorway. His lightsabre flies out of his hand and his backpack lifts from the floor and both go hurtling out the broken window. "No!" he cries, his heart pounding in terror as the figure moves towards him.

Dipper shuffles away from the entity until his back hits a wall, "Get away from me!" he hisses, "please!"

He feels a pressure closing in around his throat as he's lifted from the floor, sliding up the wall helplessly. "Let me go!" he chokes out, his vision wavering as his oxygen supply is cut off.

He hears a low growl of rage as the entity cocks his head, leaning in close. Dipper can feel the anger and the grief radiating from it, twisted and manipulated into something resembling evil.

Suddenly he's flung through the air, landing awkwardly on the floor as he instinctively protects his arm from further injury. Dazed he notices the circle he had drawn around Mabel earlier to protect her and glances up to see the entity slowly and menacingly approach him. As quickly as he can he pulls himself into the circle with one arm and rolls onto his back and watches the dark, featureless ghost try to attack him but the chalk circle is miraculously intact and the ghost can't reach him.

Grinning at that small win, Dipper tries to push himself up but instead, a wave of intense pain wracks his body, making him see stars as the dark world around him seems to shift and waver. He can feel himself slipping into a painless oblivion and he tries to fight it, desperate to stay awake so he can figure out how to save Mabel, but his battered body has other ideas. Despite his best efforts to keep his eyes open, he slumps to the floor in an unconscious heap.

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading and thanks for your patience guys. I hope to get at least one more chapter up before school starts up again. Please let me know what you think! I would love to hear any thoughts, theories and predictions you guys might have and it would be great to know who's still following this! Happy holidays!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N Not much to say but thank you to all my readers! Especially AllenbysEyes, situation711 and guest, for reviewing the last chapter! Hope you guys all enjoy this latest installment!

* * *

 **Chapter Ten**

The air is impossibly cold and thin and Mabel wakes up with a violent shiver. _Where am I?_ she wonders, looking around, disoriented. She still seems to be in the mansion, in the same room where she and Dipper hid under a table earlier, she can faintly see the circle Dipper had drawn to trap the dark ghost, but something seems...off. Even though the glow sticks around her neck are no longer glowing, everything around her still has an eerie green tint, and even though it's dark, she can see clearly, lit like a movie scene set at night. There's a hollow white noise that seems to buzz in her ears and she feels a strange disconnect from her body, hollow and numb, like she's outside herself, holding on by a thread. Like she would disappear from reality if she were to let go.

She brushes aside the thought, as she pushes herself to her feet, swaying dizzily. She stumbles clumsily towards the circle, her coordination is off in a way she can't quite figure out, and when she reaches the circle, she notes with curiosity that it's backwards.

There's a dull throb in the palm of her hand, the only thing that seems to have any feeling that's real beyond the deep chill that's settled in her bones, and she glances at her hands. She sucks in a breath, blasted with a sense of dread and foreboding. Burned like a brand on her palm, cauterizing the cuts, the skin raised and raw in a perfect triangular shape, is the image of Bill Cipher's likeness.

Suddenly weak in the knees she collapses, wondering if maybe this is all a dream. Maybe she'll wake up, full of Halloween candy and safe with the knowledge that none of this is real. It doesn't feel real. She must be trapped in some sort of nightmare, she feels so oddly disconnected from herself that everything around her does seem rather dreamlike. Backwards. It must be because the mark on her palm is on the wrong hand. She had cut the other palm earlier, and that one is fine.

"I see you're awake, child. How are you feeling?"

Mabel turns her head toward the sound of the voice, "Stay away from me," she gasps, her voice unable to speak louder than a hoarse whisper.

But in a literal blink of an eye, Elizabeth is right next to her, kneeling over her, placing her hand on her shoulder, but other than the pressure of the touch, Mabel can hardly feel it. _At least it doesn't hurt like last time she touched me..._ She flinches away from her, but Elizabeth doesn't let go, and Mabel doesn't have the strength to fight her. She tries, but her head is spinning too fast and the effort is draining. The only thing keeping her from closing her eyes and passing out is the fear of what will happen to her if she does.

"Please, leave me alone," Mabel begs weakly as Elizabeth wraps her arms around her and pulls her onto her lap, cradling her listless body.

"Oh sweet child, this evening has taken such a toll on you, you need to rest and gather your strength," Elizabeth coos, coming her fingers through the stray locks of hair in her face. Mabel struggles to get up and get away from her, but is too dizzy and weak to move. Not only that, but it's like her limbs no longer want to obey her, like they're no longer her own now that Elizabeth is here.

"What did you do to me?" Mabel whispers, her eyes fluttering as it feels like her body is sinking into the ground.

"It's a side effect to the spell," Elizabeth explains, positioning her on her lap, so Mabel's head is resting in the crook of her elbow, rocking her gently like a mother trying to soothe her baby to sleep, gently stroking her face, staring at her intently, her gaze seeming to look right through her, making Mabel unnerved and uncomfortable.

"What spell?"

"You don't remember?" Elizabeth asks, her lips curling into an amused grin. It's in that moment that Mabel realizes that she doesn't remember. She remembers exploring the mansion and hiding in one of the rooms, but she has no idea how she got _here_. Like trying to remember a dream, she's not even sure of what the last thing she remembers even is.

Now that she's thinking about it, what she does remember is that one minute she was helping Dipper make a rope out of sheets so they could escape the mansion, the next she was travelling through time, but as an invisible observer, witnessing the moment Elizabeth's ghost was expelled from her Great-Grandmother's body and Bill...he was there... What about Dipper? Did he escape? She vaguely remembers telling him good-bye as he was about to leave...because she couldn't leave and something bad would happen if he stayed...

"It will come back to you sooner or later," Elizabeth shrugs, "once the spell wears off. But consider this a merciful reprieve..."

"Somehow I doubt that," Mabel frowns.

The ghost laughs, "Oh my dear, trust me when I say you _don't_ want it to wear off any time soon. Not only will the memories return, so will the pain. The sleep spell was a kindness."

Mabel rolls her eyes, unable to do much else, "I doubt that too." Whatever Elizabeth did, it was more than just a sleep spell, but what else did she do?

The amused look on Elizabeth's face fades and she glares at her coldly, stops stroking her hair and says, "If I didn't need you in one piece, I would _break_ you."

"That's what I thought," Mabel snorts bitterly, understanding now what she unwittingly signed up for, to be Elizabeth's permanent vessel. There's no other reason why Elizabeth would care if she regained her strength. But why put her through all that torture in the first place?

"If you didn't resist me, it wouldn't have been necessary."

Feeling an ache in her frozen bones slowly starting to come alive, Mabel groans and manages to push herself up. It takes far more concentration to get her limbs to obey her than it should, but despite the incredible weakness weighing her down, Mabel manages to shuffle away from her. Elizabeth doesn't react. "I'm not letting you take me."

"Too late for that my dear," Elizabeth replies through clenched teeth, "you are mine now and there's nothing you can do about it." She slowly rises to her feet and stands over her, she holds up her palm, revealing a scar that matches the mark on Mabel's hand. "This means that our deal is sealed. You said the words, you agreed to be my sacrifice, and our deal is finalized. There is no backing out, there is no escape."

"You underestimate me and my brother. If I don't figure out a way out of here, he will."

All she has to do is find a way to defeat her...If Dipper escaped, she knows he'll be back with help. She just needs to get away. She winces as the pain in her body creeps back up on her. First her hand, the sharp sting of the burn, and then her head, throbbing in time with her heartbeat, a sharp staccato against her skull and then a deep, generalized ache all over. Like she got into a fight and lost. But as the pain returns, so does the control she has over her own body. If that's the trade off, she would take the pain over complete helplessness.

Elizabeth laughs, as though she knows a secret but isn't going to tell.

"What?" Mabel hisses, furious.

"There is no way out of here. You're trapped here forever, so get used to it."

"Try me," Mabel growls, grasping the wall for support as she heads for a door, not sure of where to go, but as long as it's away from her, she doesn't care. She still feels remarkably dizzy and uncoordinated, but she's not letting it stop her.

"Very well, then run away foolish girl," Elizabeth taunts, "it's not going to make any difference. All you are doing is making your fate far worse than it needs to be."

Ignoring her Mabel pushes through the first door she comes across, not sure of where it leads. The unfamiliar layout of the mansion feels off somehow. She steps into the seance room, and like the chalk drawing on the floor in the dining room, it's also off...backwards. The giant mirror Dipper trapped her in is on the wrong side.

A sharp spike of pain rattles in her head and she groans, doubling over, squeezing her eyes shut. The brand on her palm feels like it's on fire and she cradles her hand close to her chest, but she pushes forward. Collapsing onto the table she glances at the mirror and is startled to discover that she doesn't have a reflection.

"What the -?" She stumbles towards it and rests her uninjured hand on the glass. A flash of memory echoes through her mind, like déjà vu. She's done this before except... "Ahh!" She gasps, the pain in her head intensifying, knocking her to the floor. She shakes her head in denial, whispering, "No..." as she suddenly remembers what happened. Dipper never made it out, and she hurt him...no, _Elizabeth_ hurt him, using her body. She cast a spell over her, using her as a puppet. _No wonder I felt so weird when I woke up..._

Strengthened by her need to find her brother and make sure he's OK, Mabel ignores the disorienting dizziness and the pain and wills herself to keep moving. She rushes out of the seance room, back into the dining room where Elizabeth has not moved from the spot where she stands.

"Run, run, run away you stupid child," Elizabeth mocks, "It's too late. There's no way out. But if it makes you feel better, go ahead and try. It matters not to me. When the time comes, I will find you."

Mabel glares at her, but says nothing as she pushes onward. Maybe if she can find the room they were hiding out in, she'll find Dipper. Problem is that she had usually been out of it or unconscious when they were exploring the mansion and escaping the ghosts.

"Dipper!" Mabel calls out as she stumbles forward, "Dipper where are you?" Picking a set of doors she starts her search while Elizabeth, still not moving from her spot, laughs, her voice echoing in Mabel's ears.

"Dipper! Dipper! Dipper where are you?" Mabel calls out, over and over as she makes her way through the mansion, desperate to find him. Even though she's not familiar with the place, things still seem off. Her coordination feels wrong somehow, but she's gotten used to it enough that she couldn't even begin to figure out why. She wanders through the rooms, backtracking a couple of times until she stumbles across the main ballroom. She makes her way up the stairs, calling her brother's name as she tries the doors to the rooms along the long, dark hallway.

Finally she opens a door and sees him lying motionless on the ground. "Dipper!" she cries, racing towards him, barely noticing how the layout of the room is backwards. She places her hand on his shoulder, but her hand goes through him. Panic grips her as she fears the worst and she tries again but the weird thing is that she seems solid, and he does not. Does that mean... is he? "Dipper, wake up!" she begs desperately, trying again to nudge him, "Please, you have to wake up!" Her memories are still so fuzzy that she's not sure what's wrong with him, or why she can't touch him. Is she a ghost? Is he? Is this one of Elizabeth's tricks?

"Dipper please!" she cries, her eyes scanning his prone form, trying to figure out how badly she hurt him. It's then that she notices his bangs aren't covering his birthmark, and the birthmark is backwards.

 _Everything is backwards, what...?_ she turns towards the mirror on the wardrobe and her heart sinks. Dipper has a reflection, but she does not. She stumbles towards the mirror, eyeing it closely. Dipper's reflection seems more...real somehow, and the room's layout is more familiar. There is no weird faint green tint to him like everything else around her has and the room's reflection doesn't look off or backwards. Then it dawns on her.

 _I'm in the mirror. But how?_

Deep down she suspected, especially once that strange disconnected feeling wore off but she didn't want to acknowledge it because it couldn't be possible. But it explains why everything right down to her coordination seemed wrong but not. But how would she get out?

She watches with relief as Dipper slowly begins to stir. She knocks on the glass of the mirror, hoping to get his attention. He starts to look in her direction but Elizabeth grabs her from behind, wrapping her arms around her, "Time's up, my dear." Elizabeth falls backwards, dragging Mabel down with her, but instead of crashing to the floor, they fall right through it, down into the darkness.

"Dipper!" she cries out in terror, just as she vanishes into the floor and everything goes black.

/o\

 _"Dipper!"_

 _"Dipper wake up!"_

Dipper groans, his eyes fluttering open and then closed again.

 _"Please, you have to wake up!"_

Vaguely he gets the sense that someone has their hand on his shoulder, but it hardly seems tangible so surely he's dreaming it. He has to be...he starts to drift but again, a voice calls to him.

 _"Dipper please!"_

The voice echoing in his head pulls him back into consciousness. "Mabel?" He mumbles hoarsely, and for a split second he thinks he saw her out of the corner of his eye, in the mirror, the sound of his name echoing faintly, but he blinks and she is gone. "Mabel where are you?" He painfully pushes himself up, cradling his broken arm, "Mabel?"

Now that he's awake, the voice is gone. Had he dreamt it? Did he simply imagine seeing her?

"Mabel!" He calls out.

Nothing.

He moans in pain, grief and defeat, tears welling in his eyes as a heavy weight of hopelessness presses down on him. Mabel is gone. There's no way he heard her voice. Elizabeth stole her and pulled her into the mirror, and he has no idea how he can get her back.

He glances around the room, wondering how much time has passed. He shivers. It's so cold he can see his breath, but he finds only the slightest relief to see that the dark presence is gone and the chill in the air is from the broken window, not from an evil supernatural entity.

 _What do I do now?_ He laments, "Mabel!" He tries again, but there's still no answer, not that he expected one with her being... _gone_.

He tries to get up, but he's in too much pain to move. "I'm sorry," he whispers helplessly, sinking back to the floor in defeat. He closes his eyes again, his body demanding rest. But just as he's about to drift back into unconsciousness, he forces himself to open his eyes. No matter how awful he's feeling, he can't give up. Mabel needs him.

On the edge of his peripheral, he senses movement and discovers something strange and unexpected hovering in the air. A faint light, barely noticeable in the dark, shaped like a sphere. An orb. It hovers and dances in the air, as though trying to attract his attention. Unlike the other spirits he and Mabel had encountered in the mansion, this one doesn't frighten him. From everything he's ever read about orbs, they're harmless and benign. They're the most common type of ghost, rarely visible to the naked eye, they sometimes show up in photographs and they're not even strong enough to be considered a Level One, so even if this one were to somehow have malicious intent, there's not much it could do. But the feeling Dipper gets in his gut, is that this one wants to help, not harm.

"Um, hello?" He says, a little confused by it's sudden appearance. The orb responds to his greeting, the light fluctuating ever so slightly as it lightly bounces. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

The orb floats up to the ceiling and disappears and to his surprise, a piece of paper materializes from where the orb vanished, gently fluttering to the floor.

Intrigued, he gingerly tucks his broken arm close to his aching ribs, and hunched over in pain, he forces himself to get up and grab the paper. While his eyes have adjusted enough to the dark to see that it's a torn page from some sort of diary, it's still too dark to try and read it. He makes his way to Mabel's backpack, hoping she has more glow sticks in there to help him see, but he freezes at the sound of voices having a low discussion. At first his heart pounds with fear, wondering how many spirits actually haunt this place, but then as the voices draw nearer, not only does he realize the sound is coming from outside, but he recognizes them.

Suddenly forgetting all about his pain, he stumbles towards the window in excitement, barking a relieved laugh at the sight of the two men below.

"Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Stan!"

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading! I'm sure a lot of you guys were waiting for the Stans to enter the picture, well it finally happened! Yay! So what do you guys think? Any theories? Where did the orb come from? What's on the paper? What do you think is going to happen next, especially now that help has arrived? Did you like this chapter or hate it? I would love to know what you guys think, good or bad, so please, please, please leave a comment/review, even if it's just to say you're still here and haven't given up on the story even though my updates are slow! It would mean a lot!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N Welp, inspiration has been hitting me and while I should be writing papers and working on projects for school, I couldn't help myself and I was able to write another chapter! Yay! I'll try to keep up this momentum, but I can't make any promises because I'm so busy. Thank you to my lovely reviewers for helping to keep my motivation going when my RL has been keeping me down. It's been a while since I've personally thanked y'all, so I think it's time. (So sorry if I missed anyone!)

-Em and SingerGirl7, I am so glad I was finally able to introduce everyone's favourite Grunkles into this fic and really was looking forward to writing them. Thank you guys for the review, and I hope you like this chapter and their reaction to what's been going on.

-DignifiedSalami, I love your nickname. You raise an interesting question, but as you may see, well... things definitely would be different if the Stans arrived first. Thanks or the review!

-Imissgf, I'm glad you finally gave yourself a nickname as I've had a few peeps leave reviews as simply 'guest' and I really like to know who's who of my lovely reviewers. Means a lot to me, you know? I miss Gravity Falls too (obviously, right?) but that's why I write for it. Happy Belated Birthday! When I got your second comment I was like, "Can I realistically update today?" but I could not I was so busy! Hope you don't mind! Thanks as always for the reviews, I hope you will enjoy this chapter!

-situation71, Thank you for the review! I'm so happy that you're sticking around and haven't given up! I wish I could write full time too. I've got more stories living in my head than I can possibly write. I'm glad this story is suspenseful and makes you happy and I hope you enjoy this upcoming chapter!

-The hazel-eyed bookworm, what makes you think Dipper isn't important? He's very important, just...not to Elizabeth. There's a clue that Elizabeth gives that hints at Dipper's importance in chapter 9 when she says, "You were my master's vessel, I couldn't take you even if I wanted to." What does that mean? Well, stick around and maybe you'll see ;-). Thanks for leaving a comment. I hope you like this chapter!

-AllenbysEyes, thanks as always for the reviews and the encouraging PM's, it truly means a lot to me. I appreciate the patience and concern you've shown me, it helps keep me going. Glad you mentioned the orb as I've been wanting to introduce it for a while now. I'm happy that you're enjoying this!

-Tenchiko, wow. That's all I gotta say. Wow. You really DELIVERED on that review! I read it so many times, grinning like a total weirdo on the bus to school that morning. It truly made me so incredibly happy and fueled my motivation to finish this chapter. I'm sorry i can't give you as detailed of a response as you've given as a review, but I loved everything you had to say. I've always liked the idea that the twins arriving in Gravity Falls was destined to be, that Bill was orchestrating his plan for Weirdmageddon for a long time, pulling the strings, and the Pines family are chess pieces in Bill's game to take over the dimension. (For example, I am one of those people who believes the theory that it was Bill, not Stan who ruined Ford's science project as a strategic move in his grand master scheme and his powers allow Bill to see how the domino effect that would cause would potentially work in his favour one day) I also liked to think that Bill had a few contingency plans in motion, and his influence was more widespread than just Gravity Falls (the painting in the Northwest Mansion depicting people bowing to him partially inspired Elizabeth's character actually). I also have always liked the idea that the weirdness of Gravity Falls would always be destined to be part of the twins' lives. With Dipper's fascination for it causing him to seek it out, but Mabel being more of a weirdness magnet. I chose Luke and Leia as costumes for them because a) famous brother/sister twins in an awesome franchise, how could I _not_ do it! b) I had the honour of meeting Carrie Fisher shortly before publishing this story and it was a wonderful experience and she was such a wonderful person and she made me love and appreciate Leia so much more. (I cried when I learned of her passing.) c) the fun I could have using a light saber as a prop and the symbolism of the white dress (in Elizabeth's eyes, a symbol of purity and sacrifice). I loved reading your speculations and predictions for upcoming chapters. I won't specify which is which, but some predictions are right, some are wrong and some are close but may not turn out quite as you may think, but I loved reading them and I hope you like this chapter and I can't wait to find out what you thought of it! Thanks again so much! (OK, I guess I had more to say than I thought! :-P)

Anyway, without further ado, here's the next chapter, folks! Enjoy

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven**

Ford thinks he might lose his lunch when Stan 'parks' the rental car outside the Hartwell mansion. More like jerking the car to the side while screeching to a halt, making a wide half-donut in the overgrown driveway. After a couple of months working with his brother, he should've been used to his driving by now, but every time Stanley gets behind the wheel, Ford fears for his life.

"We're here!" Stan announces, stating the obvious.

"Clearly," Ford remarks, with the roll of his eyes as he marvels that they're both still in one piece, he reaches into the seat behind him and grabs his satchel, pulling out a tablet. "Let's get started."

"Still don't know why you want to come here first instead of going to see the kids. I'm sure the place will still be haunted tomorrow. Or at least check into a hotel and get some shut eye first," to emphasize his point, Stan lets out a huge yawn, "What time is it anyway?"

"It's almost one in the morning. The kids should be asleep by now," Ford replies, scrolling through his notes with a frown.

"And so should we," Stan adds, "but instead we're here. What's up? You've been deep in thought for hours now, I can almost see the gears in your head turning."

"Well, you know how... _unpredictable_ everything has been since Weirdmageddon," Ford says, "and with this case being so close to the kids, I would rather we take care of it as soon as possible. Besides, you and I both know that Dipper would want to tag along and I don't want him or Mabel being involved in this one."

"Yeah, you said that," Stan climbs out of the car and stretches, "but you never said why. I mean, I agree with you, I don't want the kids getting involved in this weird stuff anyway, but you've never had a problem with it before."

"That's because the boy is smart and capable and you and I both know it's what he's interested in. Better to mentor and guide him and be there to protect him than to have him go off on his own - you know he's going to do it anyway," Ford replies. He puts his tablet back in his bag and slings it over his shoulder, "But this case is different."

"Why because of the...family history?" Stan asks.

"Well, yes, there's that..." Ford nods his head and starts walking, Stan following close behind, "but..."

"But what?"

Ford sighs and reaches into his satchel again, this time pulling out a journal. Not his journal, with the six-finger insignia and the number "4" etched on it, but a small, worn out and plain, brown leather bound book that latches closed with the name M. Campbell engraved on the front. He flips though the pages and stops, "Well, I didn't want to tell you because it's not relevant anymore but..." He holds up the page and reveals a drawing of Bill Cipher.

For a moment Stan freezes. He can feel the blood draining from his face, his chest trembling as his mind takes him back and he's reminded of the time he couldn't remember anything. Who he was, who his brother was, who the kids were...nothing. Funny thing is that there was a point in his life that he wished he could start over as a blank slate, with no memory of his painful past. But to be so... _empty_ , a shell of a person...he should learn to be careful what he wishes for.

His memories returned for the most part, the good, the bad and the ugly, and the worst and most frightening moments of his life. Like the time he was held at gunpoint and almost lost part of his hearing in one ear when Rico tried to shoot him in the head, and miraculously only grazed his temple, or the time a forest fire threatened the Mystery Shack along with half the town and he refused to evacuate, or the time the world nearly ended and he thought his family was lost forever. But he would take that, the worst memories over...nothing.

"Stanley? Are you OK?"

Of course Stan recovered and got his memories back. Mostly. He still has _moments_ though. Sometimes he struggles to remember little things, or less significant events in his life, and sometimes he'll even have little blackouts, where he's still functioning normally, but he has no memory of the last few seconds or sometimes even minutes. So far Ford hasn't noticed, and Stan hopes he'll never find out, because Stan Pines is _not_ broken, he is _not_ a vulnerable old man, and there is no way he'll let people see him that way or look at him that way. Not again. Not like they did when he couldn't remember anything.

Stan brushes aside his weakness and firms his stance, frowning, "You're right, it's not relevant anymore, that homicidal triangle is gone and he ain't never coming back, so I don't know why you'd keep that little detail from me."

Ford nods knowingly, "Sorry, I just...it could easily be a lot to take in."

"You're the one with all the history with that thing and you're handling it just fine. I get why you'd want to keep it from the kids but I don't know why you'd think I couldn't handle it," Stan snaps, pushing ahead of him, "now how do we get in here? Looks really boarded up."

"Except that detail is what has me kind of nervous about this case if I'm to be perfectly honest."

"It's not the first time we've seen that image since we started this crusade and probably won't be the last," Stan shrugs, pretending to be very focused on finding a way inside so Ford won't notice how much it has him shaken up. Twice now, since investigating all the paranormal weirdness that's infected the world, they've seen carvings and little effigy's of the demon, and both times they stirred up a sense of unease within him. But yeah, seeing the drawing appear in the kids' great-grandmother's diary, that takes the cake. Even though the triangle demon is gone thanks to him, just knowing what it had been up to, messing with his brother for so long, hurting his nephew and niece, plotting to destroy his family and the world, Stan can't help but feel like somehow, despite his sacrifice, he's failed to protect them. He can't quite put his finger on why, but perhaps it's because...

"Yeah, but there is at least one direct link between this case and the kids, and knowing Bill's also been involved with this case at one point..." Ford says, completing the thought Stan doesn't want to really dwell on or think about. He still can't even reference him by name to the point of ridiculous superstition.

"...is no longer relevant because he's _gone_ ," Stan cuts in with finality, "so let's just find our way in, take care of this ghost problem and get some shut eye so we'll be energized enough to have a nice visit with our nephew and the kids tomorrow before we have to take off again."

Ford sighs as he follows Stan as they make their way around the heavily boarded up building, looking for an opening. He knows Stan hasn't been the same since Weirdmageddon, but really, how could he blame him? His brother suffered a lot because of it. Ford doesn't feel much different, but after thirty years travelling through different dimensions, hoping to find his way home, he's far more used to the weirdness of the multi-verse and the paranormal, and had learned long ago how to deal with it. Burying himself in his research and work has helped him cope and even heal, but Stan's method of avoiding the issues, even to the point of pretending it never happened, has Ford concerned. Even after two months investigating the influx of paranormal activity, Stan still refuses to talk about Weirdmaggedon and the impact it's had on the world and their lives.

"There's got to be a way in here somewhere," Stan shines his flashlight along the boarded up windows, "I'm tired and want to sleep and it's damned freezing out here."

"Yes, the weather is unseasonably cold," Ford says, following Stan around the corner to the backside of the mansion. "What is that?" Ford asks when something unusual catches his eye, hanging outside one of the second floor windows.

"What's what?"

"That," Ford says, pointing.

"Have no idea," Stan shrugs, moving forward, "One way to find out."

"Something isn't right," Ford says, "that almost looks like...a rope made of sheets? How would it get there unless...?"

"Hey, isn't that..."

"Dipper's backpack," Ford and Stan exclaim in unison when Ford's flashlight shines on the bag.

"Why was he here? I thought you..."

"Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Stan!"

They gape at their nephew in shock, "Dipper! What are you doing up there?" Ford exclaims, his tone harsh at first until he sees the sorry state he's in, catching sight of blood and bruises on his face. Ford hopes it's just a Halloween costume effect, except he seems to be holding himself strangely, like he's hurt. "Are you OK?" He asks, gentler this time.

"Um...no."

"Hang on kid," Stan cuts in, "we're coming up!" He grabs the rope and pulls with all his weight and when he's satisfied it will hold him he leads the way up the side of the wall and climbs in through the window. Dipper practically falls into him from exhaustion, wrapping one arm around him. Stan hugs him back, alarmed to see how much the boy is shaking. "Dipper what...?"

"I'm so glad to see you guys!" Dipper cries, "Mabel is in trouble and we need to find her but I..."

"Mabel is here too?"

Dipper seems slightly surprised by his question but he nods, "And she's in trouble..."

"You look like hell kid," Stan remarks, wiping a streak of dried blood tricking down the side of his face, and as though on cue, Dipper's knees buckle, collapsing into Stan's arms, groaning in pain. "What happened? Where's Mabel?" He sets the injured boy on the floor so he's leaning against the wall and Stan kneels beside him, ignoring the protests of his aging joints.

"It's a long story," Dipper wraps his arm around himself, doubling over, his voice strained.

During the exchange Ford climbs the rope and joins them, "Dipper, what are you doing here? I thought we told..." When his flashlight shines on him he stops, "Never mind, we'll talk about that later. Clearly we need to get you to a hospital..."

"No!" Dipper groans in protest, "Not until we find Mabel!"

"You're in no condition to do anything," Ford says, kneeling next to Stan and noting the way he's cradling his arm, he silently asks permission to get a better look. When Dipper complies, holding out his arm, Ford gently brushes his fingers along the swollen, slightly misshapen limb, soothing Dipper when he reaches the point of the break and he flinches violently with a cry of pain, "This looks bad kiddo, it needs to be taken care of. Tell me what happened, and Stan you take him to the hospital and I'll find your sister."

"No!" He exclaims in protest, "I'm not going anywhere! I can't leave her behind, I won't!"

"I hate to admit it, but Ford's right," Stan says, "I don't feel right leaving her or Ford behind but you look like you've been through the ringer, kid."

"Please," Dipper begs, tears leaving wet streaks of blood and dirt down his cheeks, "I know it's bad, but I'm not leaving her. Elizabeth - the ghost, took her! We have to find her. It's my fault she's in this mess, it's my fault she was taken, _please_!"

Ford holds his hands up in surrender, "OK, OK, I get it. Stanley, I packed a first aid kit in your rucksack..."

"On it," Stan nods, shucking the bag from his back to dig around for the emergency kit.

"Now, tell me what happened, let me patch you up and then we can go from there..."

"There's no time..."

"Then you'd best be quick and tell me now, OK? Start from the beginning," Ford says, leaving no more room for argument.

So Dipper tells him what he knows. How they entered through the basement, and his EMF meter went off the charts before breaking and being chased by Elizabeth's ghost and attacked by another entity. How Elizabeth tricked Mabel into making a deal and did something to her, making her nose and eyes bleed and visions to trick her. How he trapped her in a mirror but she somehow managed to control Mabel like a puppet and took her, trapping her in the mirror with her.

Stan and Ford listen to Dipper's tale as Ford checks over his injuries with a worried frown.

"And just before you guys arrived, there was this...orb. And then this appeared," Dipper hands Ford the mysterious paper that had materialized. "I don't know where it came from, but...do you think it might help?"

Ford hands the paper to Stan, "Possibly. I'll look at it in a moment, OK?"

"I don't know what she wants with Mabel," Dipper continues, "or what she did to her but...I couldn't stop her. I couldn't protect her. I thought we were prepared but I had no idea she would be so powerful! You guys said she was a level three!"

"She was," Ford says, taking his arm, "but Weirdmageddon has had a strange effect on the paranormal world, and..."

"That's not all though," Dipper adds, "Mabel says that she...I don't know, worshipped Bill Cipher or something. There were these photographs and...our great grandparents were here, they exorcised her spirit back in 1940..."

"We know," Ford confesses, "Now listen carefully, I'm going to set your arm and splint it, it's going to hurt a lot, got it?"

"You knew?" Dipper's incredulous, a hint of betrayal in his eyes, "Why didn't you tell us? It wouldn't been nice to know that _before_ you sent us here to investigate!"

"What?" Stan exclaims.

"Yeah, when you called and told us to do a recon of the place while you guys were delayed! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Stan, why would you tell him that?" Ford shoots an accusing eye his twin's way, "I thought we agreed the kids weren't to go anywhere near this place!"

"I didn't! You know how I feel about the kid getting involved in this sort of thing!"

"Dipper..."

"But Grunkle Stan, you specifically asked us to..."

Stan shakes his head, denying that he said that, but deep down terrified that maybe he did. He remembers Ford asking him to call to ensure the kids stayed away. He remembers dialling the phone to make the call, but...now that he thinks about it, he doesn't remember the conversation. Not at all. Too terrified to confront the implications he says, "Listen, it's not important right now. It was probably some sort of miscommunication, but what happened doesn't matter, what matters now is finding Mabel and getting the hell out of here. Kid needs a hospital."

Ford sighs, "Dipper, bite on this," he hands his nephew a folded up handkerchief from his pocket, "Stan hold him. I'm going to set his arm and splint it, and it's going to hurt a lot kiddo. Brace yourself."

Dipper swallows hard and nods reluctantly. He bites on the cloth and Ford makes eye contact with Stan and then Dipper, making sure they're ready before carefully pulling Dipper's arm to set the bone in place. Dipper screams and writhes from the pain, nearly passing out in Stan's arms. Stan holds him close, keeping him as still as possible so Ford can work. He brushes his fingers through Dipper's damp hair whispering, "You're doing good, kid. You did good. Worst is over. Breathe, kiddo, just breathe, the worst is over."

Dipper breaks down into sobs, and the older set of twins know that it's not just because of the physical pain. Stan continues to hold his nephew with a sort of tenderness that has always been rare for him, Dipper's raw need breaking any kind of barriers of perceived manliness that normally had Stan fumbling with discomfort and awkwardness when it came to dealing with emotional distress. He rocks him gently as Ford splints his arm and wraps it tight before holding them both in a warm embrace of comfort.

They stay like that a moment, until a faint and distant, bloodcurdling scream of agony echoes through the mansion, demanding their attention.

"Mabel..." Dipper chokes out.

"We're going to find her, kid," Stan promises, exchanging a worried glance with Ford as they stand. Except, the mansion is huge and none of them have any idea where to look, they don't even know where to _start_. And from the sounds of things, they're running out of time.

* * *

A/N As always, thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think! Any thoughts, theories or predictions? Good or bad, your comments mean a lot to me and I hope to hear from you guys! Until next time!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N Sorry it took so long to update. School, life and illness kept me from writing. But I hope that I can get a lot of catching up done this summer.

Shout Outs:

AllenbysEyes: Thanks as always for the review my friend. I think the concept of losing all your memories is terrifying, and like exploring the idea of the aftermath of Stan's unique situation. I'm glad you like that part too.

ImissGF: If I were somehow blessed with the opportunity to write or help write further adventures of the Pines family for realz, that would be a dream come true. The show was perfect and I'm glad it ended where it was meant to and didn't drag on too long like some other shows out there or didn't get a chance to conclude at all, but gosh darn it, I also don't want it to end! I love these characters so much! I guess that's what fanfiction is for... ;-) I'm also happy that the last chapter reminds you of "I am Still Here". I hope you can check out my other story that deals with the same theme called "Blackout" (shameless plug, I know. I'm sorry)

Ahmed Samy: Aw thanks! I'm flattered that this is one of your favourites. I'm happy to have finally reached the point where the grunkles are in the picture, they're fun to write.

Promissa Fidel: Thank you so much for the honest and constructive criticism. I want to improve my writing, so I really appreciate it. I know I can get repetitive and if I were to do another draft, I might cut some of it out. I think part of it is that my updates are so slow I...I don't know, forget just how much of the post-Weirdmageddon trauma I've already focused on. Maybe? I'm not sure. Another part is that I love writing post-Weirdmageddon angst in general so... yeah. Thank you for admitting to being guilty of it too, nice to know I'm not alone. I'm glad you like the backstory. I had fun writing it. And yes, yes, yes you're welcome to post it on your blog! I'd be honoured! ^_^

Anon: Um...how about now?

Guest: Thanks! Here, have an update!

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve**

Dipper doesn't know if it's a good thing or a very bad thing when Mabel's screams stop as suddenly as they start. Maybe it's because Elizabeth stopped hurting her, or maybe she passed out, or, and Dipper doesn't want to think about it, maybe they're too late.

 _No, Mabel said Elizabeth needs her alive,_ Dipper reminds himself, _why I don't know yet, but it's not too late. Unless Mabel's already served her purpose and Elizabeth doesn't need her anymore..._

He shudders, partly from the pain and partly in an attempt to get that thought out of his head. He can't think like that, it won't do any good and yet...and yet the thought persists, echoing in the back of his mind. _You're too late, too late, too late..._

"How you holdin' up, kid?" Stan asks, tilting his chin towards the makeshift sling Stan made out of some sheets for his arm, "Feel OK?"

Dipper nods, but it's a lie and they all know it. Everything hurts and Mabel has been taken, how could he possibly be OK? But there's no point in dwelling on it or complaining. This isn't the time, he needs to focus on what needs to be done to find and rescue Mabel, before it's too late. _It's not too late..._ "I'll be better once we find Mabel and get out of here," he mutters, itching to get moving despite the pain of his injuries.

"I hear ya, kid," Stan nods, visibly on edge. He turns to Ford who is hunched over the mysterious paper that had materialized just before they arrived, squinting his eyes as he studies it under his flashlight. "So? Did you find out what we're dealing with yet? Can we get going now?"

Ford shoots him an irritated glance, "I'm working on it and if you'd stop interrupting me, I'd have it figured out that much quicker."

"I don't see why we can't walk and research at the same time," Stan gripes, "the sooner we find Mabel..."

"I want to find her just as badly as you do, believe me," Ford says, "but it would be foolish to go out there without knowing what we're up against and what this ghost wants with Mabel."

"So what does that paper say? Anything helpful?" Dipper asks quietly.

"Well, I think you're correct when you say it is possibly a page out of a diary or journal, but it's hard to read. The writing is so small and faded, many of the words are illegible, either faded or smudged," Ford replies with a frustrated sigh, "I think I have an idea what it is about though."

"And what's that?"

"It looks like directions of how to perform a spell," Ford replies.

"What kind of spell?" Dipper asks.

Ford hesitates, "I'm not sure if it's to be trusted."

"I don't know," Dipper says, "I never got the sense that the orb wanted to cause harm, unlike the other two ghosts."

"What kind of spell, Ford?" Stan asks, echoing Dipper's question, but with far less patience.

"Are you sure?" Ford asks, ignoring him.

"I think so," Dipper replies, "it didn't have the same kind of negative energy the other ghosts had and I think it helped us before. I think it might've given us the pictures. What kind of spell?"

"What pictures?"

Dipper sighs, his patience wearing thin, "We found some pictures in this room, in that desk. It was weird that they would conveniently be here, so it couldn't have been random. They revealed that our great-grandparents had been here and faced Elizabeth before...and that Bill was here too. What kind of spell Grunkle Ford? What aren't you telling us?"

"I'm not sure yet," Ford replies, "I have a theory but I don't want to say anything until I know for sure. These pictures, can I see them?"

"Well, they kind of burst into flames and disintegrated into ashes," Dipper says, "how did you know anyway? About Granny May-May?"

"Her diary," Ford explains, reaching into his satchel for the old leather-bound diary and handing it to him, "this contains her account of what happened here when she and her husband cleansed this place of ghosts."

"And how did you guys manage to get a hold of _our_ great-grandmother's diary?"Dipper asks, because for all he knows, their paths never crossed.

"Your mother," Stan offers, "when your great-grandmother died, she sent the book to me, er, Ford. Soos is the one who got it and gave it to us when we passed though Gravity Falls last week. I guess it was in a safe deposit box and your mom couldn't access it until the estate was finalized."

"Why did you guys get it?"

"Because of all the strange stuff she had written. Your mom thought I would find it interesting. It's how we found out about this place."

"Why wouldn't mom give it to me?" Dipper wonders out loud, a little petty, because she knew he would've been interested in it, and it was _his_ great-grandmother.

"Maybe she doesn't want you to get mixed up in this sort of thing," Stan offers.

"Is there anything in _here_ that's useful to us?" Dipper asks, awkwardly trying to hold the book and flip the pages one-handed, wondering how much his mother knew, as he squinted in the darkness, trying to read some of the pages under the faint glow of his Grunkles' flashlights and the glow sticks they each had around their necks that they had grabbed from Mabel's backpack. Their mother has always brushed off the paranormal as nonsense, but is she really a skeptic, or is she trying to keep things from him on purpose? Finding out about his family history has raised so many questions, but right now, the only questions that matter are the ones that will lead them to Mabel, and saving her from whatever Elizabeth has planned.

"Well, there _was_ ," Ford sighs, taking the book back from him and handing Stan the paper left by the orb, "in her account of being possessed by Elizabeth Hartwell she mentions a curse placed on her and her family, making her fear what would happen if her children or her children's children entered this place, which is why you two weren't supposed to be here."

"You never mentioned that!" Stan gives his brother a sharp look.

"Didn't think I needed to," Ford snaps back, "I thought I could trust you to tell him to stay away and you did the opposite."

"I didn't!" Stan insists.

Dipper meanwhile feels sick, "What kind of curse?"

"Elizabeth warned her that one day she will be awakened by 'the blood of her blood' which will bind them together and with their sacrifice she will rise to power to stand at her master's side as together they will bring forth chaos and destruction upon the world."

"That's not cryptic," Stan quips.

"So as a precaution, your great-grandmother would not let anyone in her family step foot in the mansion out of fear that they would fall victim to the curse."

Dipper sucks in a sharp breath, "When we first got here, there wasn't any sign of a haunting until Mabel cut her hand. Things didn't get crazy until after that. Is that why they went after her and not me?"

"I'm afraid that's what it looks like," Ford frowns, "but I think there's more to it than that. We're missing something."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure. You said that you tried to trade places with Mabel, and if it's a blood binding spell that put Mabel in Elizabeth's sights...well, breaking a blood binding spell is tricky, nearly impossible..."

Dipper swallows hard.

"There are theories of what can work, but the only proven way to save someone from a blood binding spell is for either the witch who cast the spell to release their victim, or for a close blood relative to...well, take their place. Did Elizabeth say anything about why she was unwilling to let you and Mabel switch places?"

"Well, um, she said that I was useless to her."

"Did she say why?" Ford asks, and Dipper knows that there is a theory swirling in his head, that he's on to something. There's a desperate urgency in his voice, like he's afraid his theory might be correct.

"Does it matter?" Stan cuts in, clearly on edge, "All that matters right now is finding Mabel and getting the hell outta dodge."

"I'm with you there," Ford says, "but we need to know as much as we can before we make our move. Even if she was safe with us, she still wouldn't be able to leave until we figure out what the ghosts want with her and what exactly is binding her to this mansion."

"Well if we find her, at least we can protect her from any more harm until we figure it out," Stan snaps as he starts to pace.

"Right now _not_ looking for her and staying here is what's protecting _us_ ," Ford snaps back, "Dipper needs a hospital, what good are we to Mabel if we end up in the same kind of shape he is, or worse? Let's figure out what we're up against before we go in guns blazing. You're too reckless sometimes Stanley! I want to find her as much as you do..."

"That why we're wasting time here?"

"Says the guy who told them to come here in the first place when I specifically told you to tell them to stay away!"

"For the last time I didn't! I wouldn't! You _know_ I don't want them involved...If there's a curse, maybe that's the _reason_ the kid heard me wrong...ever think of that?"

"Well I uh... _theoretically_..." Ford stammers.

"Maybe if you told me all this beforehand instead of keeping that tidbit of info from me then..."

Dipper clears his throat, "She said she couldn't take me, even if she wanted to!" He blurts, raising his voice to overpower his bickering Grunkles. It cuts through their arguing and suddenly the room is quiet.

"She _couldn't_?" Ford glances back at the mysterious piece of paper, a worrying frown on his face as his eyes scan the page once again, "Did she say why?"

"Because...because I was her master's vessel," he replies, "whatever that means."

There's a pause, Ford slowly shakes his head, "That's what I was afraid of."

"Why?"

"When a demon possesses a person...well, one advantage is it means that you're safe from any other type of possession. A ghost cannot possess a person who played host to a demon."

"So she's going to possess Mabel? If she hasn't already?" Dipper asks softly.

"Well, _that_ is something we can work with," Stan says with almost a relieved sigh, "We've got a lot of exorcisms..." he offers, gathering his backpack, ready to get moving and take action, "if it comes to that."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Ford says hesitantly.

"Obviously," Stan agrees, slinging his bag onto his back, "but it's something we can..."

"Because I think it's a little more complicated than simply possession," Ford cuts him off, stopping him in his tracks, "Actually, a _lot_ more complicated."

"Meaning?"

"This page," Ford explains, waving the paper, "like I said earlier, from what I can gather, it's instructions for a spell, though it's incomplete, so to be honest, it's only a guess. But based on everything I've learned tonight, I hate to say it but I'm almost certain that I'm correct when I say that it's describing a Transference Spell. I'm almost positive that that's what she has planned for Mabel."

"Transference Spell? What does that mean?" Stan asks.

"Nothing good," Ford replies, rising to his feet, checking his watch, "but on the plus side, there's still time to stop it. According to this paper, in order to be successful, the Transference Spell must be cast during the witching hour, which is 3am. It's 1:30 now, we have time."

"But Mabel's been possessed before," Dipper says, but he realizes that he's grasping at straws, "doesn't that mean...?"

"She has?" Ford and Stan both exclaim in surprise.

"Yeah, by the ghosts that had haunted the Dusk2Dawn Convenience..."

"Ghosts and demons have completely different rules when it comes to possession," Ford says, "Demons may have to make a deal whereas ghosts don't, but when a demon does possess someone, it's like calling dibs and since demons are more powerful than ghosts, they can't override that deal."

"But Mabel was tricked into making a deal," Dipper says, wondering what it would mean for him and his Grunkles if Bill ever returned as they had _all_ been possessed by him before, "if Elizabeth's a ghost..."

"This is a unique situation entirely," Ford says, "one that I'm not entirely familiar with, because performing such a spell is nearly unheard of. But for a Transference Spell to work, it says there has to be a willing sacrifice involved and since we're dealing with the ghost of a witch, well that changes things... Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover and no time to lose. We need to find Mabel before it's too late."

"About time we get moving," Stan exclaims, slinging his bag over his shoulder, "Dipper, how are you feeling? Can you walk?"

"It's my arm that's broken, not my leg," Dipper grouses, rising to his feet but he nearly falls back down when he's struck with a wave of dizziness and nausea powerful enough to rival the throbbing pain in his body. Ford and Stan both reach out to steady him.

"Yeah, but you're still hurt pretty bad," Stan says, "I'm impressed you can even stand."

Dipper doesn't want to admit that all he wants to do is collapse, everything hurts. But finding Mabel is a more powerful motivator than the pain. He's just going to have to work through it, "I'm good," he insists, but he leans heavily against Stan, allowing his Grunkle to help him walk.

"Still think you should take him to a hospital," Ford mutters.

"Agreed but I'm not leaving you alone," Stan says.

"And I'm not leaving Mabel."

"Fine," Ford nods, "Let's get moving."

"Where do we start?" Stan asks.

"Good question," Ford sighs, "since she was, and maybe still is, trapped in a mirror, Elizabeth will need a different mirror to escape..."

"The Seance Room," Dipper says, "there's a huge mirror in there. It's where I initially trapped her and as far as I know all the other mirrors are covered in black cloths."

"Perfect, we start there! Where is that room?"

"It's really easy to get turned around in here, it's like a maze, but I think I can find it again," Dipper replies, leading the way out of the room while still using Stan for support.

"Not complaining since it's about time we do something, but I thought you said you wanted us to stay put until we know what we're up against," Stan says, "What changed?"

"But I do know what we're up against now," Ford says with a grim smile, he traces his finger along the mysterious page as they walk, squinting under the faint light of the glow stick necklace he had around his neck, "It says here that while the spell itself won't take place until the witching hour, there is a lot of prep work that needs to be done first and it's going to take all of her attention and energy. Elizabeth won't be looking for us. And the other ghost that attacked you kids? It's not nearly as powerful, we can take it."

"What kind of prep work? What's she doing to Mabel?" Dipper asks, the memory of her screams echoing in his mind, making him dread the thought of what Elizabeth might have already done.

Ford hesitates, "Well um...er...she's fine. As fine as she can be at least. For now." Under his breath he quietly adds, "I hope." There's a long pause and awkwardly he adds, "Don't worry, we'll find her. It's not too late, OK? It's not too late."

Dipper nods, but his words do nothing to ease his fears, "What aren't you telling us?"

"Look kiddo," Ford sighs, "I know a lot, but this is out of my expertise. I've only heard about this spell in passing, and as far as I know it's never been done successfully."

"What happens if Elizabeth is successful?"

"She will possess Mabel's body. But unlike a normal possession, which is always temporary, the Transference Spell is meant to make it permanent," Ford admits.

Dipper swallows back bile, "Permanent? So what would happen to Mabel?"

Ford sighs, "It doesn't matter, try not to think about it, we're going to find her before it's too late."

"What would happen to her?"

"Yeah Poindexter?" Stan adds.

"Honestly? I'm not sure. In all my research, there's a reason possession is temporary and that's because there's only so long a body can contain two souls before it begins to break down, which will threaten both souls, so even the most stubborn ghost will leave their host eventually," Ford says. "So my best guess is that if, in the unlikely scenario that Elizabeth is successful, she and Mabel will essentially trade places."

 _Why did you leave me here?_

 _The torture never stops..._

Dipper's knees almost buckle as the haunting image of an older Mabel at the piano once again flashes into his mind. What if what he saw was real?

"So basically, she'll be trapped here?" Stan asks, echoing Dipper's fears.

 _A fate worse than death..._

"In theory, yes. But there's no way to know for sure."

"A-and if it's not successful? Mabel will be OK, right?"

Ford stops in his tracks, turning to look at him and shakes his head, "The reason it's always failed in the past is because the potential host doesn't survive. Th-they all die."

"Let's keep looking then," Stan says, picking up the pace.

No one vocalizes what they're all thinking. The sickening thought that if they're too late and don't find her in time, if they can't save her, the spell being unsuccessful would be the best possible outcome.

* * *

A/N So, we're finally getting closer to the climax and conclusion. I hope you liked this chapter and that it answers any lingering questions you might have had without being too exposition-y. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! I'd appreciate it so much, and I'd love to know who's still around and reading this, especially after all this time and of course I love hearing any thoughts and theories you might have. So sorry it had taken so long to update, but since I'm off school for the summer the next one shouldn't take nearly as long.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N Not much to say here, but this chapter is one of the longer ones. Getting closer to the end guys... Here's some shout outs!

Thank you to Polachew for the kind review! I'm happy to have you here and I'm so glad to hear from you! I'm so glad you are liking my story and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

To Guest #1 (from 7/30): Thank you for the sweet review. Sorry that my updates are slow, but I think it's cool you keep checking. I'm flattered! I'm glad you didn't give up on this and I hope you like this chapter.

To Imissgf: Yay I'm glad to see you reviewed! I hope you had a great vacation and I'm glad that you're back to reading this!

To Guest #2 (from 8/2): Aw your review was so sweet. I haven't forgotten their poor parents who must be (and are) worried sick, I just haven't really had a place to mention them. An earlier draft had the Grunkles actively looking for them because they got messages from their parents stating that they were missing, but I felt it took the story off track and I liked the idea of them stumbling across them. And I'm glad you like the post-Weirdmageddon angst. I do too. (Obviously?)

Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen**

Mabel opens her eyes to find herself bathed in total darkness. The light on the glow stick around her neck had gone out, the blue and green barely visible. But they're also the only thing visible and Mabel has no sense of where she is. She groans, momentarily forgetting the wound on her hand until she accidentally presses her palm to the ground to push herself up. The action sends a shooting pain to ignite through the nerves in her arm, her palm stinging like it's on fire. She cradles her hand to her chest and leans against a wall and gingerly touches the triangle-shaped mark branded into her palm with a hiss.

The skin is swollen and raw and Mabel regrets touching it. Whatever Elizabeth did to her to make her numb, it had clearly worn off now. Everything aches, her head is pounding, her hand burning, and even though she can't see anything, she feels like the room is still spinning.

One thing she can be positive about though is that she knows she's no longer in the mirror world. She could see in that place, even with no light. She doesn't know how or when it happened, but Mabel's glad to be out of that weird dimension. At least now she has a chance, however small, to escape and find Dipper and get out. If Elizabeth has no intention of honouring her end of the deal to leave Dipper alone, then she's going to fight her until the bitter end.

She silently laments destroying the costume she had worked so hard on and tears a strip of fabric from the hem, reminding herself that the dress is already ruined and wraps it around her hand. If… _when_ …she escapes, she'll have to get it cleaned and bandaged properly but for now she could only work with what she has.

Mabel pushes herself to her feet and feels the wall, taking slow steps forward. She does feel a little stronger. Dizzy and aching, sure, but she feels like if she needs to fight or run she could still hold her own, though probably not for long. Elizabeth had said the spell to help her sleep and gather her strength was a mercy, but Mabel knows that her real reason is far more selfish, but Mabel will take whatever win she can. If only her eyes could adjust to the darkness, then she could escape.

"Oh good," Elizabeth's voice startles Mabel who jumps a little, "you're awake. Feel better?"

"What are you going to do to me?" Mabel tries to keep her voice even, tries to sound more angry than scared but her voice is hoarse and tired.

Elizabeth seems to ignore her and the room is suddenly illuminated with candlelight. Mabel blinks at the sudden brightness, the light hurting her already throbbing head. She squints until her eyes can adjust and sees that they are in a room that doesn't look like it's been touched in forever. The candles that seemed to light on their own are set up on a large mantle with arcane looking object set on it. There is a full-length mirror on one wall, and on the opposite side of the mantle is a bookcase filled with old looking books and more strange objects and next to it is a dark coloured cabinet of sorts. In the middle of the room there's a large pentagram with other symbols carved into the floor.

The room is musty, and Mabel can see cobwebs and layers upon layers of dust. Unlike the other rooms in the mansion, nothing is covered in sheets, and looking around Mabel can't even see any door.

"This is a secret room," she murmurs.

"Yes, it is," Elizabeth smiles, moving around the room, somehow both transparent and solid. She goes to the cabinet and pulls out an ornate looking goblet and what looks like a few vials and a large clear bottle with liquid inside. "I put a spell on this place, so that no one could find it until the time it is _meant_ to be found. By you."

She swallows, recalling back to when they first entered the mansion. The strange feeling that compelled her to investigate the paintings and then the crack in the wall just before she cut her hand open. It really was all part of her evil plan.

Mabel watches her pour some of the liquid into the goblet, and then a few drops from each vial as Elizabeth chants quietly, her lips moving but she barely makes a sound. She ceremoniously takes the goblet into her hand and turns to Mabel, a smile on her ghostly face.

"What are you going to do?" Mabel asks again as Elizabeth approaches her. Still pressed against the wall Mabel maneuvers away from Elizabeth but something stops her. Something cold. She looks and sees the dark shadowy ghost of Elizabeth's father Henry Hartwell, the same one that had been attacking them, blocking her path—not that she had anywhere she could go.

"On your knees, child," Elizabeth orders.

When Mabel doesn't comply, Henry's ghost forces her to her knees, pulling her arms behind her back.

"I'm glad to see that you've managed to regain your strength, but I'm afraid it will be short lived. This isn't going to be pleasant," Elizabeth says, putting the goblet to her lips. "Drink."

Mabel shakes her head, pressing her lips together, turning her face away. Elizabeth grabs her hair and pulls her head back, a jolt of electric energy flowing through her. Not enough to cause serious harm, but enough for Mabel to let out a startled cry. Elizabeth uses that moment to pour a foul, thick and acrid tasting liquid down her throat. Mabel coughs and chokes, trying to resist the onslaught of the bitter liquid that seems to burn her throat and mouth and spit it out, but Elizabeth only pulls her head back further, forcing her to drink.

"Don't fight me!" Elizabeth hisses, "You're only going to make this process more difficult than it needs to be."

Still, Mabel tries to resist. Even if she wanted to be cooperative, whatever Elizabeth was forcing her to drink was so vile and disgusting, there's no way she would be able to drink without gagging. Elizabeth puts the goblet aside and covers her mouth, forcing her to swallow. Once Elizabeth is satisfied, the dark shadowy ghost of her father releases Mabel and she falls forward, catching herself with her uninjured hand. Mabel coughs and sputters, trying to spit out what's left of the foul drink's flavour. On her hands and knees, she snakes her injured hand around her stomach, gagging, wanting to throw up whatever Elizabeth had given her.

"Wh-what was that?" Mabel whispers, suddenly shaky, feeling cold and clammy as her stomach rolls with nausea. The nausea quickly shifts into a tight pain, like she's been stabbed from the inside. She gasps, her stomach cramping and clenching until without warning the contents of her stomach violently erupts from her mouth.

Her eyes sting from tears, her throat and nose burning as she vomits, unable to stop long enough to take in a breath until she's dizzy and panicked. Every muscle in her body seems to spasm and tighten as she coughs and gags. Even after she's no longer vomiting, she spits and chokes, desperate to rid her mouth of the taste until she's exhausted herself. Just as she's about to collapse, two hands slide under her arms and lift her up, her head lolling back, her body limp from pure fatigue. Any amount of strength she had recovered when Elizabeth made her rest is gone, and she's too weak to protest or resist as she's dragged away from her mess and carelessly dumped in another corner of the room.

"Wh-what did you j-just do to me?" Mabel asks hoarsely, letting out a weak cough, her throat feeling like she had swallowed a bunch of thumb-tacks. _Was that part of this spell she's trying to do? If she's trying to take over my body, why would she do this?_

Elizabeth laughs, "Oh my dear child, had enough already? This isn't part of the spell."

Mabel glances up at her from her spot on the floor to see the semi-transparent spectre lean in close, a wide smile on her face. _Then what is it?_

"This spell is complicated," Elizabeth explains, "I can't simply possess you. Performing this Transference Spell requires a lot of preparation. That was just part of the purification ritual you need to go through before you're ready for the spell to begin."

Grasping her cramping stomach Mabel curls into a ball, releasing a quiet whimper. _Part of? There's more?_

"Of course, there's more!" Elizabeth scoffs, "I can't begin the Transference Spell until you've been purged of everything in your system. You need to be completely empty. The Purification Ritual requires three doses of the poison."

Mabel whimpers at the thought. She had food poisoning before, bad, like bad enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, but that was a cakewalk compared to the sickness she had just endured. At least back then she had some sort of _relief_ when she was done throwing up, but her insides still feel like there's tiny knives trying to tear through her from the inside out. And there's _more_?

"Oh, quit whining, you foolish little brat," Elizabeth chuckles, "this is the easy part."

"What?" Mabel croaks out, her heart pounding in terrified anticipation.

"I'm going to check on our guests, but I'll be back soon. In the meantime, rest child," Elizabeth says with a sadistic grin, "you'll need your strength. The worst is yet to come."

With that, Elizabeth vanishes, her words hanging in the air while Henry Hartwell's dark spectre lingers in one corner of the room, watching her.

A quiet sob escapes Mabel's lips as she curls tighter into a ball, her whole body trembling from unbearable nausea and cramping. _The worst is yet to come…_ Mabel shudders at the thought, not sure how much more she can take. _I thought she needed me in one piece,_ Mabel thinks pitifully, _so why does it feel like she's slowly trying to kill me?_

But then another thing occurs to her. Elizabeth had said she needed to check on her guests. Plural. _What does that mean? Does that mean Grunkle Stan and Ford…?_ The thought has Mabel equal parts fearful and hopeful. If they arrived earlier than expected maybe that means Dipper is safe and she has a chance to get out of this. But that would also mean that they too are in danger. They probably would have better tools to fight Elizabeth, but ever since their deal was sealed, Elizabeth seems to be even stronger than before. Earlier, attacking Mabel seemed to weaken her, but now it only seems to be fueling her power.

 _No, they're going to find me, and everything is going to be OK…_ Mabel chooses to think, closing her eyes, too tired and in too much pain to move. She focuses on that hope, focuses on them instead of the dread of what's to come. The throbbing in her head spikes and she sees an image flash behind her eyes. Dipper, his arm in a sling, sandwiched between their Grunkles, walking down a long corridor. Dipper's holding a working flashlight, and their Grunkles look like they're armed.

 _Hold on, Mabel,_ a voice echoes in her mind, the voice sounding a lot like Dipper's, _we're coming._

She doubts the voice is real, because it's something Dipper probably _would_ probably say. It could've easily been her imagination. Still, ever since Elizabeth had gotten into her head, Mabel had seen visions of the past and maybe was able to do more weird things, like possibly read Dipper's mind a couple of times and then there's that weird thing with the chandelier they couldn't explain... Plus, all the talk of weird 'gifts' she supposedly has, even though she had never shown signs of _having_ any of these gifts before Elizabeth got into her head… The thought scares her in a strange, intangible way she can't explain, but maybe, if it's a real thing now, maybe she can control it and use it to her advantage.

 _Be careful,_ Mabel thinks as loud as she can, the pain in her head intensifying, _she's coming._

She's not sure her message would reach him, in fact she's doubtful; they've never had that twin telepathy people claim some twins have, at least not _before._ But things are different now and she has to try. She may be grasping at straws, but she doesn't know what else to do.

 _I'm in a secret room in the basement…_ she adds _._

Mabel lifts a shaky hand and wipes her nose, revealing streaks of blood on her fingers. Exhausted, she drops her hand and lets out a strained moan, clutching her stomach. Her eyes flutter closed, an odd sense of vertigo taking over so that even though she's lying down, she feels like she's falling.

She lies there, wanting to pass out but the pain in her body won't let her. All she can do is wait and hope. Wait for Elizabeth to dose her with more poison, wait for Elizabeth to do whatever the hell she needs to do to take permanent control of her body and hope that by some miracle help will arrive in time and they can all get out of this mess alive.

-/\-

It's taking longer than Dipper would've liked to find the séance room. Dipper's tasked with holding the flashlight as they wander through the mansion, trying to find it, Ford and Stan on each side of him, protecting him and providing much needed support to stay upright. They each have one of Mabel's glow sticks around their necks in case the light goes out, and Stan and Ford are both armed with weapons designed to hurt ghosts, or at least temporarily get rid of them.

His arm throbs painfully with each step, and his chest hurts when he breathes but until they find Mabel safe and sound, Dipper tries to ignore it as best as he can.

They reach the mezzanine overlooking the main ballroom. Dipper can't look at the pool of Mabel's blood at the top of the stairs, so he looks over at the fallen chandelier and the covered grand piano in the corner. _The torture never stops…why did you leave me here?_

"You OK, kid?" Stan asks, sensing the tension building within his nephew.

Dipper nods, "We need to go down there and…I think we need to go through that door over there." He points the flashlight to the door he thinks is the right one.

"A lot happened in this room, didn't it?" Ford asks.

He nods again, "Yeah."

"Come on, we need to keep moving," Stan urges them forward, down the stairs, around the debris from the chandelier and through the doors.

"I don't think this is the right way…" Dipper says when the door they had just gone through closes behind them. He had expected to find the dining room or the smaller ballroom, but this door only leads them to a long, narrow and plain looking hallway. He turns to go back but the door won't budge. Even with Stan and Ford putting all their weight into it, it still won't move. Nobody says it, but they all fear that Elizabeth is onto them.

"I think this hallway was for the servants," Ford says, "designed so that the lower servants could do their job without disturbing anyone or getting in the way. This hall should have access to many of the rooms on this level."

"There was only one way into the séance room," Dipper sighs, wincing from the pain in his arm and chest.

"Maybe so, but this hallway can get us back on track, and might even help us cover more ground," Ford adds, "Come on."

They head down the hallway, trying every door they reach. Most of the doors won't open, and the ones that do lead to dead ends of empty closets and smaller rooms that Ford speculates were the servants living quarters.

They turn a corner when a faint white glow emerges from the ceiling, revealing a pale orb.

"Look!" Dipper points at it, and he's filled with hope at the sight of it.

Stan and Ford instinctively push Dipper partially behind them, but he ignores them and steps in front of them.

"Hi," he says, "You're back! Are you here to help us?"

The orb sways and bounces in the air, the faint light pulsing slightly.

"Do you know where Mabel is?"

It bounces up and down, the motion makes Dipper imagine that it's nodding a 'yes'.

"Will you take us to her?"

The orb darts towards them but stops suddenly, backing away from them. It flickers a moment and then vanishes. "Wait!" Dipper cries, "Come back! Please!"

"Is it just me, or did that thing seem…scared?" Stan asks.

"Please we won't hurt you!" Dipper calls out, "Please come back!"

"Look!" Ford says as something seems to appear on the ground. He bends over to pick it up, revealing a torn piece of an old photograph. The picture is of a little girl standing between two people who had been torn out of the photograph.

"Abigail Hartwell?" Dipper whispers, "Is that you?" He turns to look in all directions until he spots the orb behind them. "Are you Abigail? Elizabeth's daughter?"

The orb flickers and for a moment it glows brighter than he had seen it before.

"You've helped us before; can you help us now? Can you lead us to my sister?" Dipper asks.

The orb twirls and bounces before hovering down the long, dark corridor.

"I think it wants us to follow it…her," Dipper says, "come on!"

 _Hold on Mabel,_ he thinks, now full of hope, _we're coming._

Abigail's ghostly orb moves leads them down the corridor and as Dipper, Stan and Ford follow her, Dipper stops suddenly with a surprised cry, a sharp, new pain in his head. The unexpected jolt to his head knocks him off balance and he drops the flashlight, grasping his head, "Kid, you OK? What's going on?" Stan asks as Abigail suddenly vanishes.

Dipper's not sure, but the pain stops as quickly as it had come, the hopeful feeling now gone, replaced with fear. He's not sure why or how, but something in his gut is telling him that Elizabeth is coming. There's something else, something just beyond his grasp hidden on the edge of his consciousness, like trying to remember a dream, an idea, a memory, a _something_ that he can't quite picture clear enough to form a coherent thought. Something about a secret…?

"We have to hurry," Dipper says, "I think Elizabeth is…"

As he says her name, the temperature of the hallway drops and she appears, several feet ahead of where Abigail's orb had disappeared, blocking their path.

"I thought you said she wouldn't bother us, Poindexter! She'd be too busy preparing for her spell!"

"OK, so I thought wrong!" Ford hisses.

"Well, well, well," Elizabeth laughs, "More trespassers…welcome! This should be fun!"

Ford fires his weapon at her and she vanishes, still laughing. Stan meanwhile tries the nearest door to them and by some weird luck the door opens and they scramble through it.

"This is it!" Dipper exclaims, recognizing the dining room where he and Mabel had hidden under the table. He can see the traps he had drawn in chalk on the floor, the one that trapped the dark shadow ghost, and the one right outside the séance room. The door they had just gone through was the one they had first seen Elizabeth enter hours ago.

"Convenient," Stan quips.

" _Too_ convenient," Ford adds.

"And this isn't where we need to go anymore, since she's clearly no longer trapped in the mirror," Stan sighs.

"Yeah but we have a lead, now!" Dipper says, "Abigail. She's been helping us, and if we can maybe get a better way to communicate with her…"

"She can lead us to Mabel," Ford concludes, "and you think the séance room is where to do it?"

"Why not?"

"Or, you know, Ms. Crazybeth Hartwell is trying to trap _us_ in there, seeing as there's only one way in or out and it was stupid easy getting to this point—like she _wanted_ us to find it now," Stan frowns, "we should keep looking, go back in the direction the orb thingie was leading us to."

Dipper shakes his head, making himself a little dizzy, "But Abigail can help us."

"Why _is_ she helping us anyway?" Stan wonders.

"Because of all the ghosts in this mansion, hers is the one that has remained innocent and uncorrupted, according to May Campbell's journal," Ford says, "May and the others tried to help her cross over and find peace, but I guess it didn't work, or something else was at work at keeping her here, because a piece of her essence is still stuck here."

"Maybe if she can help us, we can help her," Dipper says, sad to think the poor soul was trapped amongst such evil for so long, and terrified that Mabel will meet a similar fate, "we _have_ to help her once this is over."

"Of course, we will," Ford agrees.

They head into the séance room and set their things on the table. Ford fishes through his bag pulls out something that looks like a Ouija board, but this one is smaller and looks handmade and _old_ , "Each player needs to keep both hands on the planchette for this to work, something you can't do right now, are you OK to keep notes on anything that the board might say?"

Dipper nods, he's right handed and fortunately it's the left arm that's broken, "Yeah." He fishes through Mabel's backpack for a pen and paper.

"OK, Stan, are you ready?" Ford turns to his brother and frowns when he sees Stan had wandered to the giant mirror Dipper had earlier trapped Elizabeth in. He's standing in front of it, inches away from the glass just staring ahead, a blank look on his face, "Stanley? What are you doing?"

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper murmurs.

"Stanley!"

Stan startles, backing away from the mirror, blinking rapidly, "Sorry I…I thought I saw something. In the mirror."

"You seemed to be in some sort of trance," Ford frowns, concerned as he places his hand on his brother's shoulder, "are you OK?"

"Yes!" he snaps, shrugging him off, "I'm fine, come on, we're wasting time here. We gonna summon some helpful spirits or not?"

"What do you think you saw?" Dipper asks softly.

"I don't know," he replies.

"Wait…" Dipper looks into the mirror, "I think I see it too…"

All three of them peer into the mirror where a faint glow seems to appear in the reflection of the doorway. Dipper looks at the actual doorway and sees the orb again which floats into the room. He glances back in the mirror and where the orb is hovering there is a faint shape. A barely visible, transparent shape of a girl in a long, white dress. If they weren't already focused on it, they would not have seen it. She floats gracefully to the table and sits, placing her hands on the planchette and both the orb and her reflection vanish from sight, but they all somehow know she's still there.

"Come on," Ford says, all taking a place at the table, leaving the spot Abigail's ghost took, empty. Dipper readies the pen, Stan and Ford, hold their hands out, about to place them on the planchette when it begins to move on its own, spelling out a message. Dipper writes the letters as Stan and Ford call them out, but the letters don't make any sense to Dipper, it looks more like gibberish.

"Abigail, where is Mabel?" Dipper asks.

The board only has time to spells out S-E-C-R before the planchette flies off the board and the temperature of the room drops. Dipper notices through the mirror, Elizabeth's reflection materialize in the doorway just as she raises her arms and the three of them go flying, separating from each other to slam into three different walls. She pins them there as she glides into the room.

"This is interesting, more guests thinking they can stop me?" Elizabeth says, amused. She looks to Dipper, "You just won't give up, will you, young one?" Dipper cries out in pain as an invisible pressure tightens around his chest, like it's squeezing the air from him as his Grunkles shout in protest. She suddenly releases him and he drops to the floor, gasping in pain, breathless. She snaps her fingers and his eyes slide closed as he falls limp.

She turns her attention to Ford, "And you? Thinking your little toy gun will stop me?" she scoffs, "Please." She hovers towards him, leaning in close, studying him. "Hmmm, you're sure hard to read, why is that?"

Ford grins, tapping on his head, "A few modifications to keep certain demons and mind readers like you, out."

"Hmmm," she muses, resting her hand on his head, closing her eyes, "Effective, but not really, I can still pick up a few things about you if I try hard enough," Ford suddenly tenses with a pained hiss as a halo of energy envelops from her fingers to his head, "You were also my master's apprentice, weren't you? A worthy student, impressive. You and I, we have so much in common, our ambition, our remarkable gifts… So much knowledge and experience…a terrible and terrific journey to get here, to bring him into our realm. We could've been great, you and I, there was a place for you too, at _his_ side, once upon a time. Too bad you had to _betray_ our Master!" she hisses angrily and Ford's groans of pain turns into a scream. "How _dare_ you!"

"Leave him alone you _bitch_!" Stan snaps.

She abruptly releases him and he falls to his knees, slumping to the ground, unconscious.

"Ford!" Stan cries, as she turns her attention to him, heading towards him, "Hey man, c'mon, wake up!"

"Oh relax, he's fine," Elizabeth grins, "he'll have quite a headache when he wakes, but it's his own fault for taking such measures to block us out. Besides, that's what he gets for being a traitor."

Stan tenses as she approaches, "Let us go lady. Let us go and you won't get hurt! Let us and Mabel go or I will _end_ you!"

Elizabeth chuckles, "Aw, how cute." She hovers next to him, studying him. Her creepy grin widening, amused, victorious and malicious. "You…you're easy to read. Quite the story."

"And?"

She laughs, "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Stan hisses, his anger for the pain she's caused his family overriding his fear.

She just continues to laugh, like she's the only one who got the punchline to some sick, twisted joke.

"Don't worry," she whispers conspiringly, leaning in uncomfortably close, "I won't tell."

The next thing he knows he's on the floor, blinking his eyes open to see Ford and Dipper kneeling over him.

"Grunkle Stan, are you OK?" Dipper asks, "We couldn't wake you. You were out for a while."

"What did she do to you?"

"I…I don't know," Stan mutters in confusion. Oddly enough, he feels fine whereas Ford and Dipper don't look fine at all. "Are you guys OK?"

"Splitting headache," Ford admits, "but nothing that I can't handle. I've had worse."

"Feel like crap, but nothing new is broken, so there's that, I guess," Dipper says with a shrug.

"I'm surprised she didn't kill us," Ford muses.

"Yeah well, she strikes me as a sadistic little bitch," Stan grumbles, "Probably getting her fix messing with us. How long was I out?"

"Not sure, we only just came around a few minutes ago," Ford checks his watch and his eyes widen, "Damn it!"

"What?"

"She knocked us all out to stall us; we were _all_ out for a while," Ford says, "We have to get moving, _now_."

"What time is it?" Stan asks as Ford pulls him to his feet.

"2:45. We're running out of time."

-/o\-

"Guess what time it is!"

Elizabeth's voice pulls Mabel from her state of semi-consciousness. She's in too much pain to completely pass out, but too weak to keep her eyes open and had spent who knows how long lying prone on the floor, caught between blissfully unconscious and painfully awake.

"Please…" she whimpers quietly, her throat too raw to speak louder than a whisper, "I…I can't."

Elizabeth kneels next to her, lifting her by the collar of her dress, partially lifting her from the floor. Lacking the energy to move or resist Mabel's head lolls back, her body limp, her eyes open in slits, "Well that's too bad," she hisses, "isn't it?" With that she slaps her hard across the face, shoving her back to the floor.

Mabel doesn't even have the strength to _try_ to resist or get up. Her cheek stings, but it barely registers, everything hurts too much for one pain to overpower the other.

"D-don't you need m-me…alive and…in one piece?" Mabel asks, still confused as to why she was doing this, "Y-you're killing m-me…"

"Yes, but I also need to complete this Purification Ritual before the _real_ fun begins. Besides, why do you think I've given you time to rest and recover between doses? So you don't _die_ before I can perform the spell," Elizabeth explains, and Mabel can't help but wonder that the real reason is to prolong the torture. In a way, she wishes Elizabeth just got it all over with at once because having time to recover also means having time to anticipate and dread what she knows is coming. In a way, that's worse.

"Get up," she hisses, nodding to the dark ghost of Elizabeth's father who lingers in the corner of the room as she reaches for the goblet.

Henry's ghost approaches her and roughly lifts her to her knees, her arms dangling listlessly at her side, too weak to put up a fight until Elizabeth stands over her, holding the goblet.

Faintly, she shakes her head, not wanting to go through that again. This will be the third goblet that Elizabeth has forced her to drink; she can't endure any more poison.

"Drink," Elizabeth orders, holding the goblet to her lips, tilting her head back and forcing the burning liquid down her throat. Mabel chokes and gags, trying to spit it out but just like the last two times, and like before, when she does Elizabeth sends bolts of electric energy through her, white hot pain shooting through her nerves.

She lets out an involuntary cry, aggravating her raw throat and prompting a painful coughing fit. Elizabeth slaps her again, "You're wasting time, now drink up. All of it."

"Please," Mabel whispers, barely making a sound, "I can't…"

"This is the last one," Elizabeth tells her, "then, we can begin the spell."

"Th-there's nothing left…to throw up," she insists, but Elizabeth ignores her, pulls her head back and brings the goblet to her lips, pouring the liquid down her throat, covering her mouth to force her to swallow. With the mysterious liquid consumed, the ghostly support holding her upright lets her go and she collapses to the floor, landing with a harsh thud. Mabel's stomach cramps and spasms painfully and she curls to her side, whimpering in pain as the poison works through her system. The liquid burns and it's like tiny knives are trying to cut her open from the inside out.

She sobs quietly as she curls on her side, writhing on the floor as the poison takes hold. Her stomach clenches and she gags, expelling the poison through her mouth, coughing, gagging and choking until she's completely empty, only capable of dry heaves. She can taste, amongst the vile, acidic flavour of the poison and bile, blood. All the muscles in her body tightens and she heaves again, violently vomiting more and more blood.

Elizabeth frowns, waving a hand over her, "That's enough. Stop."

The pain in her system subsides just enough for the assault to finally stop. A healing warmth embraces her, but Mabel resents it, because she knows that it's only because she's allowed to suffer, but she's not allowed to die.

"Sleep, but only for a few minutes," Elizabeth soothes creeepily, taking her limp body into her arms to tenderly place her in the middle of the pentagram on the floor, gently unraveling the buns in her hair and combing her fingers through the loose tangles almost hypnotically, "it's almost time to begin."

 _Begin?_ She thinks with dread, knowing that the worst is yet to come.

As Elizabeth sends Mabel into a semi-healing unconsciousness, Mabel, out of hope, silently prays that she won't wake up. That she'll die before Elizabeth has the chance to perform her stupid spell.

* * *

A/N So those who guessed the orb was Elizabeth's daughter, congrats! You're right! I'm glad I finally got to incorporate her into the story. I meant to introduce her much earlier but the story had other ideas. There's so much mythos about the Hartwells and Dipper and Mabel's great-grandparents and Bill that I haven't had the chance to include, and probably won't get that chance that I'm thinking of writing a short story about that. I'm not sure yet. But I do think that, if anyone is interested, I am going to write a sequel, possibly a series in this universe. But only if people are interested so if you are, please let me know! Also, why do I put Mabel through so much in a lot of my stories?

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter! Please let me know what you think!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N I don't have much to say but I hope you enjoy this chapter. School is in full swing so I don't have a lot of writing time, but I'm going to try my best to have this finished by Halloween. It would be fitting, right? I anticipate three more chapters, give or take. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you're all so wonderful!

The hazel-eyed bookworm: Yay! OK I will make this into a series! Glad you like it!

Guest (Aug 6): I LOVE Stranger Things, and feel lucky to have seen it well before the hype exploded, otherwise I might've skipped it LOL. I see similarities with Eleven, but it's purely coincidental. I've had this plot living in my head for a LONG time but hey, I like the comparisons, Eleven is a great character. I'm glad you're enjoying this!

Imissgf: Nope, haven't given up. I'm glad you're still liking this, and it's cool that you're writing now too!

Polachew: Thank you for the kind compliment! I'm glad you like this! Sorry for being so evil to the characters we all know and love. I don't know why I like to put them through the ringer, but I do. ;-)

Rachelle: Cool story. Hope it was worth the wait. Hope your grandma's arm is better.

All the other 'Guest' reviewers: Thanks for leaving a review! I'm glad you're enjoying my story! If y'all would be obliged though to next time use a nickname so I know who's who. I like to know who's reading this whenever possible. I got six reviews for this chapter from 'Guest' and I doubt y'all are the same person. Thanks!

Without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen**

Mabel looks around in confusion, collapsing to her knees at the jarring sensation of being thrown from one nightmare to…somewhere different.

A moment ago, she was having a nightmare about Weirdmageddon, something she had every night since it happened. The nightmares were always different, but they all served to remind her of the role she had to play in starting it. The most common occurrence being that Dipper would find out and never forgive her, would even grow to hate her. But what she did _was_ unforgivable. She let her own childish selfishness cloud her reason and it nearly cost literally _everything_.

This particular nightmare was set in the nightmarish remains of Mabelland, where everything she loved and wanted, all the childish things that in a way defined her, were being used against her. Things that were once sparkly, soft and bright now dull, twisted and corrupted into something horrific, reaching from the abyss of her prison bubble like a hoard of zombies, hungry to punish her for her crimes. In this particular nightmare, she was standing on the edge, begging Dipper for forgiveness, but Dipper, his body covered in cuts and bruises, his arm broken, his eyes narrowed into pure rage screamed at her, "You did this! You let this happen, you _hurt_ me, all for your own selfish gain! I would do anything for you, but all you've _ever_ done is hurt me! If this is what you wanted, take it. I hate you!" And with those words he shoved her into the abyss and all her corrupted manifestations of her hopes and dreams grab her, tearing her apart.

Normally, this would've been the part of the dream where Mabel would wake up in a cold sweat, heartbroken, terrified and consumed with guilt, but safe in her room. She would normally stop, catch her breath, go to the bathroom to wash her face, sometimes after a good cry, and eventually go back to sleep.

But this time when she's abruptly torn from her nightmare, she's not safe in her room, but in a cold, dark place, surrounded by a thick fog.

"Where am I?" she whispers, taking a tentative step forward, reaching out to find a wall. Is she still dreaming? "Hello?" she calls out, her voice sounding hollow, echoing slightly. She places her hand on the wall and walks forward, terrified and confused. At least she knows that the Weirdmageddon nightmares are just that: nightmares. But this place…it feels different. Real, and yet not real.

She can usually tell when she's dreaming, but this time not so much. There's a sharp, unrelenting throb in her head that has her wince, squinting her eyes as she tries to see through the fog. She feels dizzy and weak, her body aching from head to toe, her stomach churning with nausea, and the palm of her hand burns like it's on fire, it stings so badly that she's afraid to look to see how bad it is. The pain _feels_ far too real to be a dream, yet her surroundings seem far too surreal to be an actual place.

In the distance, she can hear singing.

"Hello?" she calls into the dark fog, stepping towards the sound. The singing is faint, the words the female voice is singing is barely audible, but the melody…it's familiar to her somehow, yet she doesn't think she had ever heard it before in her life. The tune is catchy, surely if she heard it before she would've remembered it. But she doesn't remember it, though it's so familiar, it's frustrating to try and place it.

The singing is warm and inviting, wrapping around her like a warm blanket and she feels along the wall to follow the sound, unable to see through the thick fog enveloping her surroundings. Visibility can barely reach past her arms-reach and she's afraid to keep going, but she doesn't know what else to do. Perhaps the source of the singing can help her.

Mabel doesn't know where she is, but she surmises that she must be walking down a long hallway, a _very_ long hallway. Every once in a while, she would find a door, but she can't open them, even though they aren't locked. So, she keeps going.

Behind her she hears footsteps and she twirls around to try and see who is behind her, even though she can't see, "Hello?"

There's no answer, but the footsteps quickly approach her.

The singing stops and the same voice echoes through the hallway.

 _Run, honey, run_!

Suddenly afraid of the footsteps, Mabel does as she's told, racing down the seemingly endless hallway as fast as her weak and aching body would allow, racing towards the voice. Suddenly the hallway ends and she's at another door. Unlike the other doors that were unlocked but still couldn't be opened, this one actually _is_ locked so it makes no difference.

She feels around and finds only another wall and she quickly realizes that there is nowhere else she can go. She's at a dead end and the footsteps are getting louder, closer.

Mabel desperately tries to open the door, even if by force but to no avail.

 _Use the key!_

She stops at the sound of the voice and looks down to see a key sliding out from under the door. She bends over to grab it, but when she stands up she's so dizzy she falls into the door and unsteadily tries to open it with shaking hands.

Meanwhile the footsteps are terrifyingly close now and two hands reach out through the fog to grab at her, one hand locking around her wrist as a tall dark figure emerges from the fog. A woman in a long black dress wearing a black veil, her eyes a cold, icy blue stands tall and menacing, her grip on her wrist so tight Mabel fears it will break. "There's no escaping me child, no matter how hard you may try," she hisses, holding up her palm, revealing a triangle shaped scar and violently twisting Mabel's wrist around to reveal the identical scar, still fresh and raw, "you're bound to me, and we are bound to him—there's no going back. It's too late!"

Mabel screams, yanking her wrist free as she turns the key in the lock, opening the door. She kicks out at Elizabeth, pushing her away as she crosses into the room and slams the door behind her, locking it.

Exhausted she collapses to her knees wrapping her arms around her stomach and doubling over. Her eyes close and she lets out a hopeless whimper. She doesn't know where she is now, or if she is safe here but she's too exhausted to keep going. On the other side of the door there is a loud, persistent knock, rattling the door, Elizabeth's muffled screams threatening her, demanding she let her in.

"I _own_ you, child! Let me in!"

Mabel crawls away from the door, terrified and weak. She curls into a ball on her side, nearly jumping out of her skin with a yelp as a hand suddenly rests on her shoulder.

"Shh," a voice, the same voice that had been singing soothes gently. "You're safe for now."

Mabel opens her eyes at the sound of the comforting voice and is met with a familiar face, "Granny May-May?"

"Yes, it's me," she replies.

"Am…am I dead?" Mabel asks.

"No, no you're not."

"Then what am I doing here with you? You're dead," Mabel murmurs.

"You're dreaming," she says, "but this is no ordinary dream. In fact, I wouldn't call it a dream, but truthfully, I don't know what else I would call it."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm here because your soul was crying out for help, so now I am here."

"You're here to help me?" Mabel asks, relieved and wary. "How?"

May-May nods, "Yes, but we don't have much time." She takes her by the hand, her touch warm and comforting, numbing the pain in her palm and helps her to stand, moving with far more strength and agility than Mabel had ever seen in her great-grandmother while she was alive.

Once on her feet Mabel falls into her arms, and May-May wraps her arms around her, her touch bringing nothing but comfort, easing the pain in her body, giving her strength. "My," May-May says with sadness, "that evil woman has done such a number on you. You've given up, haven't you?"

Mabel doesn't answer. She doesn't need to. The shame and sadness in her eyes says it for her.

"That's what she wants. The more worn down and defeated your spirit, the easier it is to take. Why do you think she's already put you through so much hell? I know it's hard, but you need to be strong. You need to fight. Don't give into her, no matter what you do."

"I'm trying," Mabel whimpers, "but she's so powerful, and I'm so… _tired_. I don't know what else to do…I think…I think it's too late. She's won."

"No, she hasn't, not yet. I know that it seems like all hope is lost, but it _isn't_ ," May-May says, "I think I know what you can do to stop her. But you can't do it alone, you will need Dipper's help."

"But how? I don't even know where Dipper is, or if he's even OK. Last time I saw him, I…she hurt him badly."

"You and I both know that won't stop him."

Mabel nods, "Yeah. But…that's also what kind of scares me."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I don't want him to get hurt or worse trying to save me," she pushes herself away from her grandmother and turns her head to the door she entered and flinches when there is another violent knock at the door.

"She can't get in here," May-May assures her.

Mabel watches the door warily for a moment and then looks back to her great-grandmother, "She told me that I'm destined to hurt him and only bring him pain…"

"She lies…"

"But…it's _true_ , Granny May-May. He's done so much for me and sacrificed so much for _my_ happiness and safety, and what have I done in return? Nothing. I only make things worse," she whispers, tears welling in her eyes. "Maybe everyone would be better off if I just…died."

"Oh honey, please don't talk like that…"

"I don't want to but…what else can we do? At least this way Elizabeth can't do her spell and won't be set free and Dipper will be _safe_ instead of throwing himself in harm's way to save me. He'll be sad, sure, but at least he'll be alive and he'll get over it and it's my fault I'm in this mess so _I_ need to deal with the consequences, not him—he's paid enough for my mistakes already. Besides, I think…I think I deserve it. I know I do."

"No, you don't," May-May insists gently, "come now, where's my optimist?"

For some reason, the question hits her hard and Mabel starts to cry, "I don't know anymore. I'm trying to be…but…ever since…I did something _bad_ this summer I…I've been _trying_ but… it's been harder and harder to be positive, to be… _me_."

May-May holds out her arms and lets Mabel cry into her shoulder, "It's OK, honey, it's OK. You've been through so much, I don't blame you for struggling and it's OK to let go and let it all out. You're carrying such a heavy burden of guilt, but sweetheart, you cannot blame yourself for what happened and you can't let it corrupt your beautiful outlook on life."

"I'm trying," Mabel sobs, "but…I'm so _tired_."

May-May holds her and rocks her gently, "I know, I know," she soothes comfortingly, "but you should understand that this is what Elizabeth wants. Just as the One-Eyed Demon went after you when you were vulnerable and your guard was down to trick you, Elizabeth has exploited your guilt and deepest fears to manipulate you into giving her what she wants. She's trying to keep you down to convince you that she's won, but she hasn't won yet and you can't let her win, understand?""

Mabel nods, but she's still doubtful that it could be possible.

"I think I know how you can stop her," May-May says. "I don't have time to explain everything but when you wake, you'll need to act fast. It's important that you stop her before she can begin her spell."

"I don't think I'm strong enough."

"Yes, you are, and with Dipper's help, I _know_ you two have a fighting chance—she hasn't won yet."

"But I told you, I don't even know where he is."

"That doesn't matter, once I show you how, you can tell him what to do."

"But…how?"

"I think you know."

"With my mind?"

May-May nods, "You've done it before."

"What's up with that anyway?" Mabel asks, "we go through our whole lives not knowing that's a thing and all of a sudden it is a thing! Why didn't you tell us you were a Psychic Medium? And apparently, it's hereditary? I have so many questions Granny May-May!"

"I don't have time to explain everything, but yes, psychic gifts have run in our family for generations. Almost all the women in our family had abilities to some degree, but yours were especially strong."

"But no one has ever mentioned anything like that _ever_ , mom doesn't even _believe_ in that sort of thing—why am I only finding out about this now?"

"Because I had no choice but to lock away your gifts and any memory of having them. I needed to protect you from the curse Elizabeth put on this family," she explains, "you see, she wanted them, she wanted to exploit them and she knew that the only way she could ever permanently take a new body for another chance at life, her host had to have psychic gifts similar to hers. Psychic abilities, _true_ psychic gifts are rare and she had chosen my bloodline, _our_ bloodline as her target.

"By locking away your gifts, I was able to hide you from her, keep you off her radar. The same goes for your mother and grandmother and her sister and it worked for them. But I knew that things were somehow different for you—you _and_ Dipper—but I did it anyway, and I'm so sorry because I fear that in your case, instead of protecting you, I inadvertently made you even more vulnerable."

"What do you mean? How?"

"If things were different, maybe you would've remained hidden from her, but the One-Eyed Demon's attempt at an Armageddon changed everything, unlocking your abilities but keeping your memories hidden," she says, "when you agreed to help her, you unwittingly gave Elizabeth access. She has awoken your gifts because _she_ needs them. But no one is meant to gain such abilities all at once and it has only left you unprepared and overwhelmed. I'm afraid that without training or control, I don't know what kind of toll they may have on you."

"What about Dipper? Dipper has— _had_ —psychic gifts too?" Mabel asks, confused since May-May said it's something the women inherit.

"Not quite, not like yours, but he too possessed some unique abilities to a smaller extent," May-May says. "I think it's because of your father's side of the family."

"Dad's psychic too?" Mabel asks.

"No. However, when I first met your father, I had sensed a paranormal… _interference_ , that I cannot explain. Not with him directly, and no psychic abilities, but _something_."

Mabel swallows hard, realizing that Bill Cipher was the interference she was talking about. After all, she knows about Ford's history with him, what if he wasn't the only one? Who else would Bill have messed with in the past? Not only that, but Bill mentioned that Elizabeth's intended host would come from two powerful bloodlines… She can't figure out why, but the realization suddenly has Mabel gripped with fear for her brother, and what might've happened to him had they not defeated him.

"But I think the biggest reason that Dipper's a rare case is because you two are twins and you share a powerful connection," May-May says. "Gifts or no gifts, you two were always stronger when you were together. That's why I believe it will take both of you to stop Elizabeth…hopefully."

"But…how?

"I'll show you," May-May replies, taking her hand, "but we have to hurry, we don't have much time—we've used up a lot of time already. You _need_ to stop her before she can begin her spell."

"What happens if we don't?"

May-May hesitates.

"Will it be too late to stop her?"

May-May shakes her head, "The truth is honey, Elizabeth will be at her weakest and most vulnerable during her spell, but you will be too. She can still potentially be stopped, but I'm afraid it might be too late to save you."

"So, if we don't stop her before she can begin, I…I won't survive…" Mabel murmurs.

"Don't lose hope though sweetheart, no matter what happens, keep fighting, all right? I want you to survive to live a full and happy life,but…the most important thing is that you two stop her. I hate to say it, but you _need_ to stop her, no matter what. If she wins, you'll still be lost but she will be free to wreak havoc on the world and resurrect her demon master. You can't let that happen, understand?"

"So, it really _would_ be better for me to die than to let her perform her spell…"

"That's not what I am saying, but…"

"If that's what it takes…"

"Perhaps, as a last resort but honey, you need to fight to _live_. If you die before she can finish, it's true that would mean she had failed and won't be freed, but sacrificing yourself isn't exactly a desirable outcome, is it? Not while there's still another way. Dipper will need you, and you still have so much potential, so much to offer and to live for… You need to stop her before she can finish her spell, or all will be lost."

"I'll try. So, what do we need to do?" Mabel asks.

"There is an incantation spell I've been working on for decades," May-May says, "a banishing spell."

"Teach it to me," Mabel says, hoping she can remember it when she wakes.

"I already have," May-May replies, "here, in this forgotten memory." She gestures outward and what was once an empty, featureless room shifts into a different room, one that Mabel recognizes as Granny May-May's guest room in the house she had lived in before she had to move into a nursing home when Mabel and Dipper were nine. They used to sleep in that room when they stayed over.

Mabel watches her younger self, along with a young Dipper enter the room, and they can't be any more than four or five. Her younger self looks uncharacteristically quiet, and timid, her eyes wide with fear, while young Dipper holds her protectively, even though he too is afraid. Behind them Granny May-May joins them and lights a bundle of sage and waves the smoke around the room.

" _What are you doing, Granny?"_ Young Dipper asks.

" _This will help keep the monsters away,"_ Memory May-May explains, humming a familiar yet unfamiliar tune. There's nothing spectacular or special about the tune, but Mabel finds it quite catchy. _"When we're finished here, you will be safe from the monsters."_

" _And I won't see them anymore?"_ Young Mabel asks.

" _That's right,_ " Granny May-May replies with a kind smile. She sets the burning sage down on an incense holder and then sits on the floor next to her great-grandchildren, her old bones creaking and groaning on the way down, but Granny May-May doesn't seem to let it bother her. _"But should they ever come back, I am going to teach you a song that will scare them away. Are you ready to hear it?"_

" _I love songs!"_ young Mabel says with enthusiasm and Dipper nods excitedly.

Memory May-May smiles and then starts to sing. The words make no sense to Mabel, but the catchy melody and silly way she sings it to her four-year-old self serves two purposes: to put young Mabel and Dipper's minds at ease with it's silly nonsensical lyrics, and making it easier for thirteen-year-old Mabel to remember.

"What language is that?" Mabel asks. To her it sounds like gibberish, but maybe it means something?

"I'm not certain, but it's not of this world," May-May says.

"Then how…?"

"There was a time I went on a dark and dangerous path in my desperation to protect my children from Elizabeth's curse," May-May says, her mouth in a thin line, "I dabbled in things I shouldn't have, but along the way, I gained the knowledge to create this spell. It's dangerous knowledge, so I had to put safeguards in place to protect you and myself. Once you use it, you won't be able to remember it, but should you need it, you can find it here in this locked memory."

Mabel nods, still confused but watching her younger self along with her twin brother learn the spell-song, Mabel finally feels confident that maybe they can win after all, because now that she's hearing it, even only part of it, the memory is rushing back to her as though she had heard it a million times and she can feel the power of the words.

She watches the scene unfold, as May-May teaches them the spell, and then, treating it like a game, May-May has them close their eyes as she locks away their abilities, but Mabel can see the pain and regret in her eyes as she does so.

"I never wanted to do it," May-May tells her, "but I felt I had no choice."

Finally, Mabel watches the memory of Granny May-May locking away their memories, and when she and Dipper open their eyes, they both think they just finished a silly game and any fear they had before was gone, like it had never happened.

"It's time for me to go now, honey," May-May says, taking Mabel's hand and kissing her forehead, "There's so much you need to learn, and I'm so sorry I won't be there to teach you and prepare you from the oncoming storm."

"Wait, don't go!"

"You need to wake up now," May-May says, "fight her before she can begin her spell. Stall her if you have to. Dipper's coming. Don't let her win!"

"I…I won't!" Mabel replies, throwing her arms around her. May-May hugs her back, but suddenly Mabel is hugging air and the room around her vanishes, replaced with the thick fog. She takes a step but the ground seems to have disappeared from under her and she falls into a black abyss.

As she falls, images flash around her as an incredible sharp pain stabs at her head.

She sees a young girl summoning Bill Cipher, and Mabel knows that it's Elizabeth when she was about thirteen. Elizabeth was seeking answers about her own psychic abilities and Bill promised to make her powerful and that she would rule by his side one day.

She sees her grandpa Sherman as a younger man shake hands with the Triangle Demon, and then the scene shifts and she watches a young Grunkle Ford do the same.

She sees Dipper with that laptop, desperate to find the password and Mabel feels a pang of guilt for being too preoccupied with her stupid puppet show to help. She winces when she watches her brother shake hands with him, allowing Bill to take over his body leaving him to roam as a ghost.

She sees Grunkle Stan grin proudly and then with sad melancholy as the world around him goes up in blue flames and Bill screams as he tries to escape his mind.

The last thing she sees is a young man in his late teens, possibly early twenties standing on top of a tall hill. The air is heavy with a thick smoke, the sun bright red through the orange haze. He's laughing, a twisted maniacal laugh that sends chills through her bones. Slowly he turns his head towards her but before she can see his face, the world goes black.

-/o\-

She gasps awake, choking for air as though drowning. For a moment, there is nothing but pain, every inch of her throbbing, especially the burn on her hand and the relentless pounding in her head. She wants to curl into a ball as she rides this wave of pain but something is holding her in place, preventing her from moving.

It takes a moment to realize she's back in Elizabeth's secret room, lying on the pentagram on the floor. Her wrists and ankles are tied up, bound to four points of the star. The dress that she had made with such love and care is destroyed. Her boots are gone, her feet bare, the arms of the dress had been torn off, and long slits had been cut on each side of the skirt, almost to her hips, the fabric draped between her now bare legs. Candles are placed next to each point of the star, and though she can feel the warmth of the flames, she is freezing.

 _Dipper…_ she thinks as loud as she can, even though it hurts. She doesn't know if he can hear her, but in her mind, she sings the song May-May taught them years ago, hoping he can hear her, hoping he understands what it means and what it is for. _Come find me in that secret room, bro-bro…we_ can _stop her._

She's inwardly reciting the song in her head, blinking against the intense pain behind her eyes as she does so. But before she can finish, Elizabeth returns and sends a shock of energy to pulse through her, breaking her concentration.

"I know what you're trying to do," Elizabeth hisses, "and it won't work."

Mabel groans, catching her breath from the attack and glares at her ghostly captor, "And your plan will?" she snaps, her voice hoarse from her raw throat, but still full of bite. "You really think this will work? I'll _die_ before you can take over my body."

Elizabeth laughs, "Of course it will work."

"And why would you even want to do this? Did you even think this through?" Mabel hisses, trying to stall her, hoping that Dipper and their Grunkles will find her in time, "You really want to be thirteen again?"

"A small sacrifice for a second chance at life… your youth is what makes you an ideal candidate."

"What do you even… plan to do?" Mabel asks as a spasm of pain wracks her body, "Once y-you have me? After everything you've already done to me?" she chuckles bitterly, "Because I'm in a _lot_ of pain thanks to you, and my pain will be your pain if your dumb spell works and _you'll_ be the one tied to the floor."

"Oh honey, you really are a fool," Elizabeth laughs, "you fail to understand the intricacies of the spell. It's a process. And we're right in the middle of it now that the preparation is complete. Healing this body is the final step, once I've ripped your soul from it and have replaced it with my own."

"And then what?" Mabel asks, "Once you've taken over my body, what do you intend to do?"

Elizabeth grins, "I think you know."

"My family will stop you," Mabel snaps, knowing that she intends to resurrect Bill, "they'll defeat you just like they defeated _him_."

"They can try," Elizabeth shrugs, rising to stand over her menacingly, her grin widening, "but why would they? They're going to think I'm you. I'm going to let them believe they won."

Mabel's heart sinks at the thought.

"Why do you think, that after all my threats, and despite multiple opportunities, that I haven't killed your brother yet? I read his mind. He'd die to save you, I could see that he wouldn't give up, no matter how broken he is, no matter how hopeless the situation. I gave him a chance to leave and save himself, but I knew he wouldn't take it. And he's a clever boy, and your great uncles are too. Sooner or later they're going to find you—me."

"No…"

Elizabeth laughs wickedly, "They won't know what hit them until it's too late!"

 _Dipper…_ she thinks again, calling out with her mind, _if you can hear me—_

"Even if they figure it out, I've had decades to prepare and have more than one contingency plan. Now, enough stalling," Elizabeth exclaims, "it's time to begin!"

Suddenly, the lights on the candles dim and flare into large, brilliant flames before returning to normal, an eerie wind swirls around them and Elizabeth begins to chant, falling into some sort of trance.

All the muscles in Mabel's body tense, her nerves pulsing with the numbing sensation of pins and needles, her back arches like she's being lifted from the middle by an unseen force, but the binds around her wrists and ankles keep her tethered to the floor, her limbs pulled taut.

An explosion of pain tears through her as she slams back to the ground and a faint pink glow slowly begins to engulf her body.

Mabel screams.

It's too late. The spell has begun.

* * *

A/N Ugh, I've rewritten, and rewritten and overthought and rewritten this chapter and I'm still not entirely satisfied. But I hope you guys enjoyed! Either way, please let me know what you think! Your feedback means so much to me! We're almost at the end, just a few more chapters! I'll try to update soon! Please leave a comment, I'd love to know any thoughts, theories, criticisms or questions or whatever. Heck, even if you want to say hi, I'd love to hear from you!


	15. Chapter 15

A/N At first I was worried because I didn't have any reviewers and I was like, "They hate it! WAHHH!" like the paranoid girl I am. But then I got some sweet comments and I feel better now. That said, I always feel paranoid when I upload.

Gravityfan17: Thank you for giving yourself a nickname and for all the encouraging comments for chapter 13 as 'guest'. I love your theories and predictions! The last chapter (14) had lots of foreshadowing for both this story and a future story I'm plotting out since I plan to write a series in this universe. I mean, that's what all the 'cool' kids are doing nowadays it looks like. I'm so glad you're enjoying this and I hope that you like this chapter.

MysteriousMan13: Welcome back! I thought you quit this story so it's great to see a review from you! Makes me happy. So...the comment about Mabel dying again in another fanfic, are you referring to my stories (I do put her through a lot) or Gravity Falls stories in general? I don't recall killing her in my stories (yet?) so it must be in general? Anyway, I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like this one!

Imissgf: LOL, you do seem to be channelling Dipper because yes, that is what he would say. Thanks as always for the comments, I look forward to them and I'm glad you like this so far and I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. :-)

Rachelle: Aw, thank you for the review! I'm glad you liked the little backstory in their past. I think it's great that you've started writing as well, and I feel honoured to be part of what inspired you to do so. Keep writing, be open to criticism and keep writing some more and you will get better and better.

OK guys, this is it, only two more chapters to go. I am still hoping to have this completed by Halloween, but with school and whatnot I can't make guarantees but gosh darn it I will try!

I hope y'all enjoy this chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen**

"How could we let this happen?" Stan grumbles angrily as Ford gathers their Ouija Board and stuffs it in his bag. "She wasn't supposed to bother us! You said she…"

"I know, I know," Ford sighs, "I'm sorry. I thought she would be busy preparing for her spell and would leave us alone and the other entity would be the only one we needed to worry about. I was _wrong_ , OK? Happy? How many times do I need to…"

"We're running out of time, _fast_ , and we have no idea where to go!" Stan continues.

"Well, the orb—Abigail—was trying to lead us somewhere, it's a start!" Ford says.

"We don't have time for a _start_ , Ford," Stan hisses, "we need to find her _now_."

Dipper meanwhile winces uncomfortably as he tries to make sense of the letters on the paper he wrote, relaying Abigail's message. It looks like gibberish to him, and the throbbing pain in his arm and battered body, his growing panic and his bickering grunkles are not helping. "Can you guys stop?" he snaps, "This isn't doing anything to help Mabel."

"OK, well we head to that door Abigail was leading us to," Stan sighs, "we can go from there."

"Abigail?" Dipper calls out softly, "Are you here? Please, if you're still here, please help us!" He looks around, hoping to see the faint orb appear but there's nothing. But orbs are the weakest level of ghost, too weak to even register as a level one, and Dipper wonders if she even _could_ appear, imagining that everything she's already done to help them had used up her energy. "Maybe if we _summon_ her…" he says, thinking out loud.

"What's that?" Ford asks.

"If we summon Abigail, like, properly, would that make her stronger? Would it make it easier for her to help us?"

"Hard to say," Ford replies, "but we don't have the time or the materials to safely summon a ghost without a Medium—even if we did, it would still be too risky in a place like this. I think she's given us all the help she can."

"But I don't know what any of this means!" Dipper says holding up the paper, "Do you?"

"No, I'm sorry," Ford replies with obvious regret, "and if it's a code, we don't have the time to try and crack it."

"Speaking of time, we're wasting it," Stan says, heading out the door, "come on, let's go."

They start to retrace their steps, heading back towards the place Abigail seemed to be trying to lead them to when Dipper falters dizzily. A sudden pain in his head throws him off balance and he stumbles, nearly dropping the page of notes from their session talking to Abigail as he reaches for Ford's arm for balance.

"Dipper, you OK?"

He nods, "Yeah my head…" he pauses, something feels off. He had taken enough of a beating earlier that his head had been throbbing for a while now, but not badly enough compared to his other injuries for him to really be concerned about it, but this feels different. "I don't know, hurts. I'm OK, just… a little dizzy. Don't worry about me, let's just keep going."

As they find the servant's hallway and follow where Abigail's orb tried to lead them, Dipper feels strange. Like there's something so incredibly _important_ he has to remember. Finding Mabel is the biggest thing on his mind, but this _other_ thing is distracting, demanding his attention but he can't quite grasp what it is exactly. He had a similar feeling before, just before Elizabeth showed up in this very hallway, but this more persistent.

They walk quickly and reach the door at the end of the hall. Stan pushes it open and they're met with a flight of stairs. One set going up, one set going down.

"Great," Stan grouses, "up or down?"

For a moment, Dipper's heart sinks. They don't have time to guess; if they guessed wrong they would be too late to save Mabel, and even if they guessed correctly, it wouldn't guarantee that they would find her in time. But then his eyes go back to the gibberish on the page and it hits him. It's so obvious, but at first, he didn't see it because everything else made no sense, so the last four letters felt just as random as the rest of the letters Abigail spelled out. But the letters Abigail spelt when Dipper asked where Mabel is, S-E-C-R, suddenly makes perfect sense.

"Down!" he exclaims, something in his mind telling him that he is right, leaving no room for doubt. "She's downstairs, in the basement! I know it!"

"You do?" Ford asks, "How?"

"Abigail was trying to tell us that she's in a secret room," Dipper says, as though it's just as obvious to them.

"OK, but what makes you think that the secret room is downstairs?" Stan frowns.

"Because we entered from the basement," Dipper explains, "and when we were exploring down there… Mabel thought she found a secret room. Turned out to be a false alarm…maybe…but… what if it's not? We didn't exactly have time to really find out for sure before Elizabeth came along and we had to run."

"What are we waiting for? Downstairs it is!" Stan says, leading the way. He only makes it down two steps when all three of them are pushed back by an invisible force and the dark entity of Henry Hartwell suddenly advances on them from the darkness below. They're pushed against the wall, the force holding them in place as the shadowy ghost approaches them. Ford struggles to raise his weapon to dispel the ghost, but he can't move. None of them can as the mysterious force presses against them, like a powerful wind gusting through the stairwell and hallway.

"P-please!" Dipper begs, "L-let us go!"

The entity leans in close to him, as though studying him, before he raises his arms to his sides, balling his shadowy hands into fists. In that moment Dipper can hear his grunkles choking and soon he too feels as though something is wrapped around his neck, strangling him. He quickly feels lightheaded and dizzy, his eyes rolling back. He struggles against the force, but there's nothing there to fight. But then suddenly the strangling sensation stops, though they're still pressed against the wall, unable to move. Dipper opens his eyes and sees the orb.

"Abigail…" he chokes out as he and his grunkles gasp for breath.

The dark shadow stops and seems to stare at her a moment. The orb bounces and twirls and the shadow shakes his head and lets out a hollow and horrible scream, filled with anger and pain and the walls seem to shake from the sound. Dipper, Stan and Ford are released from the wall, dropping to their knees. Stan and Ford drape themselves over Dipper protectively as the shaking walls and ceiling start to crumble and crack, and dust and debris showers upon them. Ford raises his weapon and fires. With a screech, Henry's ghost vanishes and the shaking stops.

Once everything is still and silent, they tentatively look around but find no sign of either ghost. They pause for a second to catch their breaths and dust themselves off, waiting for the dark entity to return but there's nothing.

"Mabel!" Dipper calls out, hoping that somehow, she can hear him, "Hang on, we're coming!"

The three of them race down the stairs, on full alert for any sign of Mabel. Dipper shines the flashlight around the basement, noting the familiar barrels and bottles for wine and then the creepy paintings that caught Mabel's attention when they first entered. He fixes the light on the top painting, the one of Elizabeth, wearing a long black dress and veil of mourning, looking much like her ghostly form.

"It's somewhere around here," he says, leading the way towards the painting, "it's got to be!" But when he gets closer to the painting he freezes, a chill running up and down his spine. "No…this…this can't be right."

"What?" Ford asks, as he and Stan reach him, looking at the painting.

Dipper feels dizzy, because the woman in the painting is _not_ Elizabeth. He knows exactly how she's supposed to look. The figure in the painting looks different. The eyes, which once were a piercing blue like Elizabeth's ghost are now brown, no longer a stern, harsh gaze, but warm and kind. The contours of the face are rounder, her cheeks rosier, her mouth upturned in an inviting smile. It no longer looks like the foreboding image of Elizabeth, instead it looks more like…

"Odd," Stan muses, "this portrait looks almost like your mother, but not."

Dipper shakes his head, "No, it's Mabel…but older."

"It kind of does look like her," Ford agrees with equal parts horror and fascination.

"That's weird and it can't be good," Stan mutters.

"Earlier the portrait was of Elizabeth, but it's ch-changed…" Dipper whispers fearfully, his mind haunted by the apparition at the piano, knowing with absolute certainty now that that will be Mabel's fate if Elizabeth's spell works.

Dipper winces as the throbbing in his head intensifies. Stan opens his mouth to say something but suddenly Dipper cries out in pain when the dull throb spikes to a piercing agony. It knocks him to his knees and he catches himself with his good hand, dropping the flashlight. In his other hand, the paper he had written Abigail's letters on slips from his fingers and lands on the floor in front of him. A dark droplet of blood drips from his nose, splattering on the sheet of paper.

"Dipper!" Ford and Stan both exclaim, Ford grabbing his shoulders to hold him steady while Stan hesitates, wanting to help Dipper but the need to find Mabel urges him to trust they'll be OK while he looks for a possible entrance to any secret room.

The pain in his skull has Dipper seeing stars, but a strange yet familiar tune enters his head, and he doesn't know why or how, but he knows that it's important that he remembers where he heard it. He hums the melody, aware of how strange he must look to Ford and Stan, but something about it is _important._ How…?

The pain in his head fades enough for him to blink his eyes open and he sees the page and the seemingly random letters Abigail spelled out. With Ford holding him upright, Dipper sniffs and wipes the blood from his nose, too focused on the melody in his head to wonder about the implications behind what just happened to him.

"Dipper, are you OK, what happened?" Ford asks as Stan spares them a glance as he searches.

"I know what this means!" Dipper exclaims, grabbing the paper and handing it to him, "I think this is a spell that can stop Elizabeth!"

Ford scans the paper, his genius mind finding a pattern, "It looks kind of like…a banishment spell of sorts. Some of the letters are missing, a little jumbled but…I see it now. I recognize some of these words, but I can't make out all of them…"

"I think I know the words," Dipper says.

"Dipper, this spell is written in a language from another dimension…I didn't recognize it at first because it's written using our lettering system. How would you…?"

"I'm…I'm not sure…"

"Hey, if you're better now, then less talking, more searching!" Stan says, "You said this room is around here, but where?"

"I don't know exactly, but close! Along this wall… I think."

"Don't secret rooms have secret entrances? I'm trying to find a trigger to open it but…" Stan mutters, still looking along the wall. "The movies make it look so simple, just find the right book on a shelf, or lever but I'm not seeing anything like that."

"If there's a trigger to give us access, it could be anywhere down here…" Ford says with a frown, "doesn't even have to be near the entrance."

"Wait, do you hear that?" Dipper asks, and they all go quiet. At first there's nothing but then they can faintly hear a voice.

"Sounds like it's coming from behind this wall," Ford whispers.

"It sounds like chanting," Dipper adds.

"What time is it?" Stan asks suddenly.

Ford checks his watch and his shoulders sag, "It's 3:01. She's started her spell. We have to find her _now,_ before…before…"

"We're not too late," Stan says, shaking his head in denial.

"No," Ford replies, "No, we're not. We're not…we…" He looks around frantically, desperate to find a clue, "If we can find them before Elizabeth has a chance to finish…then maybe…maybe there's a chance…"

A muffled scream interrupts him from the other side of the wall.

"Mabel!" Dipper cries, hoping she can hear him, "Hang on, we're coming! We're coming!'

"There's got to be a way in!" Ford says, feeling along the wall desperately.

"No time!" Stan hisses, grabbing a heavy chair and ramming it into the wall.

"Wait! If you knock the wall down, you could hurt Mabel!" Ford exclaims.

"That ghost bitch is hurting her, _now_. You have any better ideas?" Stan asks, ramming the chair into the wall again. The wood gives way slightly, but when he rams it again he's met with resistance and he falls back but he catches himself and tries again and again with no luck until the chair breaks and he just uses the largest piece to try again.

"We're not getting in that way, Stanley," Ford laments.

"What else are we supposed to do?" Stan snaps, desperate.

"I don't…I don't _know_!" Ford's eyes well with tears. Meanwhile they can hear Mabel screaming and more chanting and all three of them stand helplessly, desperate for a way to get to her.

Dipper wipes the tears in his own eyes, leaning into the wall, resting his forehead against it, humming the melody now stuck in his head. Where did he hear it before? Where did it come from? He had never heard it before in his life as far as he knows, but it's so familiar, it's like he's heard it a million times. The melody, the seemingly nonsensical lyrics that turn out to be a banishing spell from another dimension… "Mabel, if you can hear me, hold on! We're right here! We're coming!" he yells, and then he half sings, half chants the words of the song. Will it work? Will it have an effect despite the seemingly impenetrable wall between them?

Ford, meanwhile searches for a way into the room and Stan goes back to using violence to try and break down the wall, even though by now it seems futile. Mabel's screams and the chanting stop for a moment and Dipper holds his breath, but then it resumes and he lets out a helpless cry.

Suddenly the room gets cold and all three turn to see the dark, shadowy ghost of Henry Hartwell. Stan and Ford move protectively between the ghost and Dipper, standing their ground, holding up their weapons as the ghost approaches them.

But instead of attacking them the ghost stops and points to a set of wine shelves along the wall. The shelves sit next to a row of barrels that may or may not hold wine and on the shelves are several ornate bottles of wine, most of the bottles are broken but a few are intact, still filled with wine, and some of the slots are empty.

Dipper eyes the ghost curiously, "Is that how we get in?"

Slowly the ghost nods and disappears. Dipper, Stan and Ford hesitate, wary. It has to be a trick, right? He's been a threat all evening, why help them now? They exchange glances and finally Ford says, "It's the only lead we've got."

"But I checked there," Stan protests.

"Thoroughly?" Ford asks, "It's worth another look."

Ford fumbles with every bottle on the shelves, broken or intact, twisting them, pulling at them but nothing makes a difference. Dipper meanwhile shines the flashlight along the rows of slots for the bottles and notices something in one of the empty slots, something reflecting the light of his flashlight, "What's that?"

"A keyhole!" Ford exclaims, "Hidden in the back of this slot...but…there's no key. Stan, can you pick the lock?"

"I'll try, but it takes time and tools and…"

Stan's words are interrupted by a clinking noise behind them, and they turn to see a small bronze key bouncing on the floor. Dipper looks up and sees Abigail's orb hovering along the ceiling but disappears when he sees her.

"Thank you," he whispers as Ford grabs the key from the floor and turns it in the lock. The entire shelving unit shifts and Ford and Stan grab the corners and pull it forward, revealing a dark narrow hallway. They quickly move into the darkness and find another sliding door with a light shining under the crack in the floor. They push it aside and the darkness is bathed in candlelight and they are pushed back by a fierce, supernatural wind that swirls violently around the room.

"Mabel!" Dipper cries out upon seeing his sister lying in the centre of the room, in the epicenter of the whirlwind, tied by the wrists and ankles to the floor with Elizabeth, somehow both transparent and solid straddling her writhing form, chanting while Mabel screams.

Mabel doesn't seem to notice them, too consumed with agony as Elizabeth performs her spell and Elizabeth spares them a glance but doesn't stop her chanting. A pale pink aura surrounds Mabel's body, there are lines covering her arms and legs, forming strange symbols and they appear to be glowing a slightly brighter shade of pink. Blood and tears fall from her closed eyes, her nose is bleeding, her mouth wide open in a raspy scream as her body bucks and writhes, her back arching off the floor as Elizabeth grabs her head and digs her ghostly fingers into her temples.

"Stop!" Dipper screams, their grunkles echoing his protest. Dipper tries to get closer but the wind pushes him back. Ford aims his weapon at Elizabeth but it's forced from his hand, Stan lunges for them but he's thrown into the corner of the room.

Mabel's eyes snap open. They're glowing a bright pale pink, the glow seems to feed the pale aura surrounding her, making it radiate even brighter. Meanwhile a murky green aura begins to envelop Elizabeth's ghost, her piercing blue eyes also glowing. She releases Mabel's temples and Mabel gasps for breath, the small reprieve allowing her a chance to turn her head towards Dipper.

"D-Dipper…" she whispers as Elizabeth leans back and hovers her hand over Mabel's chest, chanting.

 _Granny May-May's song…._

Though she doesn't say it out loud, Dipper can practically hear her reminding him of the song stuck in his head, the lyrics somehow a banishment spell from another dimension. He nods and half-sings half-recites the words. He had forgotten all about that song, but now that he's saying the words, he remembers the day Granny May-May taught it to them. How could he have forgotten? Though she doesn't seem to have much of a voice left thanks to her raw throat, Mabel's lips move in unison, singing along.

Dipper shouts the words over the sound of Elizabeth's chanting while Mabel mouths the words, only able to speak in a whisper. Elizabeth flinches and glances Dipper's way, finishing the phrase of her chant before she smirks at him.

"I know what you're doing, but it won't work," she says, "you're too late. Once the spell has begun, there is nothing you can do to stop it."

Dipper ignores her and continues to recite the words to the song, noticing that it is having an effect on her powers, the wind dying down slightly. It's enough to make Elizabeth glare at him in fury and as he half-sings the song, her ghostly form seems to flicker and flinch ever so slightly. Ford catches onto the words and sings along with Dipper and this causes her to retaliate, using her waning power to push them back against the wall, but it doesn't seem to stop them.

Infuriated, Elizabeth digs her ghostly fingers into Mabel's temples once again, clawing at her mind and Mabel screams again, body tensing and arching off the floor. "You're only making her suffer more than necessary!" Elizabeth hissed, "It's too late! Your foolish spell will not work on me."

"No!" Dipper screams, unable to tolerate the thought of Mabel enduring another assault, he lunges towards them, forcing his way through the wall of unearthly wind. He doesn't have a plan, but he doesn't care, and he raises his fist to strike at Elizabeth, desperate to get the ghost off his sister.

Elizabeth lashes out at him and knocks him to the floor. Still inside the vortex of wind swirling around Mabel and Elizabeth, Dipper vaguely hears Ford and Stan calling out his name in fear, but he ignores them. He reaches out blindly for a weapon, his fingers wrapping around a silver dagger, guessing that was what Elizabeth used to carve the symbols into shallow cuts in Mabel's skin on her arms and legs.

He pushes himself up and still reciting the words to the spell-song advances, refusing to quit. Elizabeth raises her hand and he's knocked on his back again. The ghost hovers over Mabel's body, still chanting her spell, going into a deep trance, giving Mabel a moment to breathe.

"D-Dipper…" she whispers, turning her head towards him, her eyes still glowing, though not as bright.

"It's OK…I'm here, you're going to be OK, we've got you…" he pushes himself back up, cradling his broken arm close to his chest, clutching the dagger in his other hand.

"K-Kill me…" she whimpers, closing her eyes, "please…only…way…"

"What? Mabel, no!" Dipper protests. "We're going to get you out of here." He takes the dagger and tries to cut at the rope tied around one of her wrists, but a shock pulses through him and Mabel, her aura flickers and he's almost pushed into the swirling whirlwind surrounding them but he holds his ground.

"P-please…" she begs, her voice barely more than a whisper, "…too late to…stop her…o-only way…" She moans in pain, her body tensing and spasming uncontrollably as she rides out a wave of agony, she opens her eyes and rests it on the dagger in Dipper's hand, "P-please…"

"I…I can't!"

"It's OK," Mabel whispers, forcing a smile, "it'll be OK…w-we t-tried but…this...only w-way…"

 _She's planning to resurrect Bill…_

Dipper doesn't know how but as he looks into her eyes, still glowing a faint pink, still wet with tears and blood he understands that Mabel is right. It _is_ the only way to stop her from being free and bringing Bill back. He doesn't know how, but he somehow understands Elizabeth's motives and what she plans to do once she's alive again, and he understands that there's so much more at stake than Mabel's life. He understands what Mabel is trying to tell him: that the only way to stop her would be to keep her from finishing the spell. And at this point, the only way to ensure Elizabeth fails would be if Mabel dies before she can finish.

Dipper shakes his head in denial.

"It's OK…it'll be OK…" Mabel whispers, her voice broken into sobs. "P-please…"

 _It's the only way to save me, too._

"Mabel, I…I can't…." he sobs, suddenly struck with the hopeless realization that if he doesn't do it, Mabel's spirit would be trapped in the mansion forever, to age and rot and decay like the apparition at the piano, doomed to a fate worse than death. It's better for her to die by his hand before Elizabeth finishes the spell than for her death to result in Elizabeth's victory. Either way, Mabel is dead.

But he just can't do it.

 _There's got to be another way._

 _We tried it bro-bro, we tried it and it didn't work. I'm trapped here anyway…_

"It hurts…it hurts so much!" Mabel whimpers hoarsely, choking out another sob, "K-kill me," she cries, "Please!"

Dipper is suddenly acutely aware of his options and how hopeless it really is. Even if they free her from her bonds and leave this secret room, Mabel is trapped in the mansion, and if what Elizabeth says is true, that once the spell has begun there's no stopping it, trying to save Mabel will only prolong her suffering.

"M-Mabel…" he cries, "I…I'm so sorry…" he raises the dagger over her heart, shaking his head, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…."

"I t-trust y-you bro-bro," she says with a sad smile as she closes her eyes.

Dipper hesitates, he can't do it, there's got to be another way…there's _got_ to be. He's weeping now, looking to his grunkles for help, but they can't seem to get to them, the wind keeps forcing them back. Elizabeth meanwhile is still deep in a trance, seemingly unaware of their exchange.

"I'm sorry, I…I just can't," he says, lowering the weapon. "We have to keep trying…"

Mabel closes her eyes in defeat, blood and tears leaving trails down her cheeks and she nods.

 _I understand…_

Suddenly she cries out in pain, as Elizabeth's eyes open and she hovers one hand over Mabel's face, another over her chest, moving her hands in a swirling motion. The glow coming from the marks on Mabel's skin and from her eyes glow brighter, the pale pink aura being slowly pulled away from her body.

"D-Dipper…" Mabel pleads hoarsely, tears and blood falling down her face, "P-please!"

 _She's almost finished her spell!_

There aren't a lot of options, but the one Mabel is asking of him is the only one he's unwilling to try. He resumes reciting the words to the song in his head, and Elizabeth lashes out, shoving him into the wind swirling around them and he's thrown into Stan and Ford who catch him.

"I told you," Elizabeth snaps, "you're too late! That puny little spell of yours can't stop me!" She looks down at Mabel and continues her chanting. The glow coming from the marks on Mabel's skin, eyes and mouth glow brighter, Elizabeth's spirit fades into a dingy green once again and she rotates her hands over Mabel's face and chest pulling at the pink aura of Mabel's soul spilling from her mouth and eyes as though summoning it. Meanwhile Elizabeth's murky green aura wraps around Mabel's pink one.

Dipper realizes with horror what Elizabeth is trying to do. She's trying to rip Mabel's soul from her body and replace it with her own. He can't let it happen.

Not giving up Dipper screams the words of the mysterious banishment song in his head while Ford and Stan grasp Dipper's shoulders, holding him upright as they too scream the words.

Elizabeth twitches and flickers, lashing out at them angrily which breaks her grip on Mabel's soul. Mabel glances blearily towards Dipper and though she can't seem to speak, she mouths the words in unison with her family. Elizabeth twists and writhes and she lets out a scream, "You're too late!" she hisses with an inhuman screech, "This vessel is mine!"

"You can't have her!" Dipper snaps, "Let her go!"

Though it seems to take the evil ghost effort, she suddenly thrusts her hand into Mabel's chest, her ghostly fingers wrapping around her heart, clutching it tightly within her chest. Mabel lets out an unearthly howl of pain, her back arching off the floor, her whole body wracked with violent spasms until they weaken and finally stop and Mabel's body goes limp and motionless.

Still chanting her spell, Elizabeth hovers her hands over Mabel's lifeless body, screaming the words to her spell as the pink aura surrounding Mabel is pulled away from her, the brilliant pink glow from her mouth and eyes fade and the aura starts to take form, looking a lot like Mabel.

Realizing what is happening, Dipper screams out in desperation, "No!" and lunges for them, pushing through the supernatural wind, still holding the dagger and slashes at Elizabeth's ghostly form, as Stan fires his weapon at Elizabeth and Ford recites the last words from the mysterious banishing spell.

Elizabeth's now transparent form sizzles and sparks as though burning, her murky green aura flickering like flames. Recoiling from pain and shock, Elizabeth releases her grip on Mabel's soul, crying in pain as she blindly reaches out for Mabel in desperation, her eyes widening as she realizes the spell has gone horribly wrong.

"You fools!" She screams, her voice no longer sounding human, "What have you done?! Now you only doomed us _both_!"

Suddenly a blinding white light explodes though the room, striking them like tiny needles both burning hot and icy cold and Dipper's violently lifted from the ground and thrown aside. He instinctively curls his body to protect his broken arm as he strikes the wall and crashes to the floor.

And then everything goes black.

* * *

A/N This did not turn out the way I saw it in my head. Thanks for reading guys! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'm a little worried about how it turned out. Anyway, please let me know what you think, good or bad. Any thoughts, theories, criticisms, predictions? Please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians by the way!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N You guys are so awesome! Thank you so much for the reviews guys! Life has me so stressed right now but reading your comments always makes my day so much brighter, so I really can't thank you all enough, but I'll try...

Williebadger618: Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you're excited. I hope you enjoy!

Ice Beagle: Halloween is my favourite holiday, October is my favourite time of year. Thank you so much for the review, it means a lot to me that you're sharing this with your friends, I'm honoured. I'm glad you were able to visualize it and that you find it creepy. :-)

Guest: Thanks for the review! Glad I'm making you wonder what's next and that you're enjoying this.

Imissgf: Squee! Thank you! Happy that I gave you chills, that's awesome. Thank you for all the kind compliments and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Gravityfan17: I like your theories and the scene between Dipper and Mabel. And you're right, I DO have a lot to cover before the end, though I may purposely leave a few things open0ended, questions unanswered, etc., but I hope that I will still end up with a satisfying conclusion. Thank you so much for the sweet review and encouragement.

Fan-ish Potato: Thanks for leaving a review, especially since you don't normally leave them. I feel so special! Man, I am so far behind on Adventure Time, I really need to finish watching that series, it's such a good show!

Ghostlyfantastic (aka Rachelle): Like the new nickname! I'm glad you like that chapter, and I don't think you're weird. I do put the characters through a lot though.

Angelwings2002: Hi! Welcome to the story! Glad I got you hooked! I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

So I always tend to underestimate my chapters and how many words I'll need to get it all down and as always, I find them to be so much longer than I anticipate and sometimes end up splitting them into two chapters. Gravityfan17 is right, there's a lot to cover so as I work on the conclusion to this story, here's a bonus chapter that was meant to be part of a longer one, but still fit on its own. I'm still aiming to finish this by Halloween, fingers crossed.

Without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Sixteen**

When Dipper opens his eyes he's groggy and disoriented, only really aware of the fact that his everything hurts, especially his arm and his head. His ears are ringing, there's something in his eye—blood?—and his stomach lurches as the room seem to be spinning. At first, his surroundings seem unfamiliar, and it takes him a moment to remember where he is and how he got here. "Mabel!" he gasps with a wince, trying to get up but suddenly Stan is hovering over him, motioning him to stay still.

"Easy, kid, easy," Stan says, "don't move. Looks like you must've hit that wall hard, you were so close to that blast of light you had us scared a moment. Are you OK? How's your head? Anything broken?"

"Y'mean besides my arm?" Dipper asks, his voice slightly slurred as Stan seems to be checking for possible neck injuries, "I don't think so... Mabel…" He tries once again to sit up but Stan pushes him down again.

"Lie still, your head's bleeding, you need to take is easy until I say so, you might have a concussion."

Dipper ignores him and tries to sit up, looking for Mabel, but Stan keeps shifting positions just enough to block his view of the room. The ringing in his ears fade enough for him to hear a soft voice just behind Stan, out of his line of sight. Ford's voice. He's counting under his breath in a steady rhythm that sets off red flags.

"What's going on? What's…?"

"Just focus on me, OK?" Stan says, gently holding him down, "Mabel's…" he hesitates, "Uh, she's in good hands. Just worry about you for now."

"I'm OK," he groans, his head spinning as he tries to move. He's not OK, but he's not broken…well, except for his arm, and maybe his ribs are too because trying to sit up _hurts_ , but he's OK enough to move on his own devices. "How's Mabel? Where is…"

Stan keeps blocking his view, "No, you're _not_ OK." He glances behind him, his shoulders sag and he shakes his head. The silent conversation he's having with Ford, just out of Dipper's view is driving him crazy with worry. "Try again, _please_ , try again!" Stan barks at Ford.

"I…it's been too long without…" Ford says softly.

"Try again!"

"What's going on?" Dipper doesn't surrender to Stan's attempts at blocking his view any longer and pushes past the pain to shuffle away from Stan just enough to catch a glimpse of Ford. He's kneeling beside Mabel's impossibly still body. She's still tied to the floor and Ford's large hands are folded over Mabel's chest, pressing down in a deliberate, rhythmic pattern, counting each compression.

"No! Mabel!" Dipper cries out, pushing himself up to crawl towards them if they have to. Stan stops him and wraps his arms around him but even in his wounded and weakened state he fights him.

"Give them room," Stan murmurs into Dipper's ear, "Ford's doing everything he can right now, he'll…she's going to be…" Stan stops his platitudes, not knowing what to say. He wants to reassure Dipper that everything will be all right, but he can't make false promises. He doesn't know. Stan holds Dipper as he starts to tremble, shaking his head, low guttural sobs escaping his throat.

Ford presses his ear to Mabel's chest, spares them a glance and shakes his head. Dipper feels as though his heart will shatter as he closes his eyes, shaking his head in denial. Ford resumes CPR on Mabel, looking determined, heartbroken and exhausted, he's not giving up yet, but in all appearances, it's too late. She's gone.

"Give it a rest Stanford," Stan says finally, his voice strained with heartache and grief, "she's…you did everything you could."

"No," Dipper chokes out.

For a fraction of a second, Ford seems to reluctantly accept that it's over, but his eyes meet with Dipper's and even though he's exhausted, he can't look the kid in the eyes if he doesn't try at least one more time.

"Not enough," Ford shakes his head, "One more try. It's only been a couple of minutes, people have come back from longer than this."

Dipper's heart sinks. A couple of minutes? No one had ever survived a Transference Spell before, and it looks like Mabel is no exception but they've beaten the odds before. Over the summer they've achieved the impossible, they fought Bill Cipher and won, surviving Weirdmageddon, she can survive a stupid spell. She has to.

"Mabel…please, come back…" he whispers.

 _Dipper…_

The voice echoes in his mind clear as day, Mabel's voice. He glances around, afraid that he would see her behind him as a ghost which would only confirm his greatest fear. If she's a ghost, then that would mean she's gone. The thought of Mabel's death is already too much for Dipper to consider, but worse still is the fear that, what if she's gone and her spirit is trapped in this mansion? He doesn't see her though, but again he hears her voice in his head.

 _It's going to be OK…I think. I think it will be OK._

"Mabel," he whimpers, his sister's calm, comforting voice in his mind only has him gripped with fear, the worst-case scenario becoming more and more of a reality, "Please…"

Dipper cries into Stan's shoulder as Ford continues his chest compressions, "Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!" he breathes, leaning over her again. Waiting. Waiting. His shoulders sag in defeat and he shakes his head, "I'm so sorry…" he says, his voice broken. Dipper's heart shatters at those words and he shakes his head in denial, choking out a messy sob.

A barely audible whisper of a groan escapes Mabel's lips but only Ford is close enough to hear it. He perks up, suddenly hopeful and Dipper and Stan hold their breath in anticipation. "Wait a second…" he presses his fingers to her neck, leans his head against her chest, "There's a pulse! She's breathing!"

Dipper and Stan both release a sigh of relief, but it's short lived. She may still be with them, but she's not out of danger yet. She had been essentially dead for a few minutes, which could mean a number of problems, but at least for now, there's hope.

"Quick," Ford says, "help me untie her, we have to get out of here."

Stan and Ford quickly get to work at untying her wrists and ankles. Dipper makes an effort to rush to his sister's side, but his injuries have other ideas. The pain in his ribcage stops him in his tracks and he sucks in a painful breath, his head spinning. He finally takes heed of Stan's advice and stops, taking it easy. Slowly this time, he pushes himself up, wanting nothing more than to get to Mabel and see for himself that she's still alive. Stan takes his hand and helps him up while Ford scoops Mabel into his arms, her body limp as a ragdoll.

"You good?" Stan asks Dipper who nods, though he can't stand up straight. "Can you walk?"

"Y-yeah," Dipper replies, testing himself by taking the few steps towards Ford and Mabel. He reaches his good arm out to her, wanting to comfort her but he's suddenly afraid to touch her, she's in such bad shape, and completely unresponsive when he takes her uninjured hand which is dangling listlessly at her side and places it on her lap, giving it a comforting squeeze. Her hand is like ice.

"Come on," Ford says quietly, "let's go."

He leads the way out of the room, Dipper practically clinging to his coat to stay as close to Mabel as possible. When he realizes that Stan's not moving Ford pauses, "Stanley?"

Stan is looking at a tapestry on the wall. The image is of Bill Cipher hovering over a crowd of people who are bowing to him as flames engulf the world around them. "Go," Stan says, not taking his eyes off the tapestry, "I'm right behind you." Ford doesn't move and Stan finally looks at him, "I'm getting our stuff, OK? Go. Get the kids to safety, I'm all right."

Once Ford and Dipper are around the corner Stan grabs some of Elizabeth's arcane books and artifacts, stuffing them in his rucksack. He opens the cabinet next to Elizabeth's dark alter and opens a small drawer where a small ornate silver box sits. He grins, stuffing it into one of the smaller, rarely used, pockets of his bag.

He glances back at the tapestry and smiles.

"Stanley! Come on!" Ford calls from the darkened corridor.

Stan blinks, confused for a moment and then, realizing that he's taking too long, he slings his bag over his shoulder, grimacing painfully as he banged his shoulder pretty good in that mysterious blast earlier. He frowns at how much heavier his bag seems to be, but his aging body aches from being tossed around a couple of times so he doesn't think much of it. He starts to leave but then takes one of the candles, which somehow managed to remain lit and intact despite the strange blast that had enough force to knock everyone back. He holds the flame next to the velvety tapestry, watching as it catches. He then sets the candle down, knocking it over to catch on the fabric draped over Elizabeth's dark alter.

Satisfied he rushes out of the secret room, not bothering to see if the fire is spreading. It had already grown enough to satisfy him.

"What were you doing?" Ford demands as Stan joins them.

"Setting fire to the place, come on, we gotta go. Now, before the fire finds the wine," Stan edges them along.

"What? Why would you do that?"

"I'll explain later, go!" Stan exclaims.

Dipper leads the way to the stairwell he and Mabel first entered and falters, not sure if he has the strength to climb them. "Exit's up there."

"Hey kid, you OK?" Stan asks.

Dipper nods, "Yeah? I think so?" He glances behind him to see the basement starting to fill with smoke and forces himself to keep going, despite the pain and dizziness working against him. When they reach the top of the stairs Dipper's relieved that Ford manages to carry Mabel outside without any supernatural force trapping her inside. However, the fact that she hasn't moved or shown any signs of life frighten him.

Once outside Ford sets Mabel down and calls for an ambulance, noting that Dipper and Mabel's parents had left a few frantic voicemails on his phone, while Dipper stays close to Mabel and Stan cradles her in his lap as he monitors her vitals, keeping his fingers on her neck.

"We need a cover story," Stan says.

"What?" Ford frowns.

"A cover story. When the police and ambulance get here, there's going to be questions. Mabel's got rope burns and symbols carved into her skin, Dipper looks like he lost a boxing match and the mansion is on fire. Somehow, I don't think the vengeful ghost of a witch is the kind of story they'll buy," Stan shrugs. "It's why I set the fire in the first place. There's going to be questions, and there's going to be digging and we needed to make their investigation harder because they'd probably find holes in our story otherwise."

"What do we tell them?"

"Well, take it from a con man like me, the best lie has an element of truth," Stan replies, "so being that it's Halloween and stuff, I say we tell them how you kids thought it would be fun to explore the mansion and that's why you were here, which is kinda true. We're paranormal investigators, essentially, so that's what brought us here, also true, and well…it's Halloween. You kids were attacked by a group of guys wearing cloaks and masks so you didn't see their faces. When we arrived, they split, knocking over their candles starting the fire. We just got out in time."

"Seems a bit more plausible than a ghost did it," Ford concedes.

"Dipper, you're in too much shock to remember much, you and Mabel were separated, OK? You don't know what they were up to, don't know what they did and never got a good look at them—let them draw their own conclusions. You're a victim here, they're not going to hassle you for too many details," Stan says, "Ford and me, we didn't see anything, they left as soon as they heard us coming, we only heard them running away, got it? That way, if they question us separately, we don't have to worry because Dipper's the only one who saw anything—just don't describe anything that can remotely resemble us. You didn't see much, but if they keep asking, describe different builds, different numbers."

"They wouldn't suspect us," Ford scoffs, "we're the ones that got the kids to safety."

"Yeah, but do you want to take that chance? Especially with my background? Y'know, being a dead criminal and all?"

"We erased those records from all the databases," Ford reminds him, "we took care of it."

"Yeah, but still…"

Dipper nods, swallowing hard. He doesn't like the idea of lying to any police, but Stan's right about there being questions and if they can't come up with a plausible story, there's a chance that Stan and Ford could be made suspects despite being the heroes. "What about Mabel? When she wakes up…"

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," Ford says.

"If?"

"When," he corrects himself, but uncertain, "I meant when."

"You don't think she'll wake up?"

Ford sighs, "It's hard to say at this point. Until we get her to the hospital and the doctors do more tests, I can't say for sure. She was essentially dead for a few minutes...without oxygen, the brain…not everyone…people don't always recover from that—but sometimes they do. Mabel's strong, there's still hope."

Dipper takes her uninjured hand and gives it a squeeze as he glances at her impossibly pale face, marred by blood, dirt and bruises. She makes no response, no hint at life aside from soft, shallow and laboured breaths, and Dipper ends up resting his fingers on her wrist, careful not to touch where the ropes had made it raw, and feels for the weak thrum of her pulse.

When he finds it he mutters, "Mabel's going to wake up. You don't survive Weirdmageddon only to die two months later. That would be stupid. That would be so stupid. Hear me, Mabel? You'd better be fine, you'd better wake up and be OK. I know you made that deal with Elizabeth to protect me, it's bad enough that you had to go through all that but I'll never forgive you or myself if you died trying to protect me."

While sirens wail in the background, Ford takes pictures of the marks on Mabel's arms and legs for further research, as he only vaguely recognizes some of the symbols at best. The more he can understand the Transference Spell, the more likely he might be able to help Mabel. Besides, Elizabeth's final words haunts him. It haunts them all.

 _You fools! What have you done? You've only cursed us both!_

What did she mean by that? What was that explosion of light? Ford has so many questions and he's anxious for answers. Ford has always hated it when there's a question he doesn't know the answer to, and when the question directly affects someone he cares about, until he can find that answer, it doesn't matter what good his intelligence and knowledge has done, he's helpless. He's supposed to be the guy with all the answers but right now, he doesn't have any.

As the sirens draw near, Ford takes their bags and loads them into the trunk of their car and fishes out a blanket for Mabel. He notices how heavy Stan's rucksack is and, curious, he starts to open it to see just what Stan had packed to make it so heavy but then Dipper's panicked cry and Stan's voice calling for him has him forget all about it. He turns and sees Mabel convulsing in Stan's lap and rushes over.

"Grunkle Ford! What's happening to her?" Dipper cries.

"She's having a seizure, quick, roll her on her side, protect her head," Ford instructs as he takes his coat off and places it under her head and drapes the blanket over her. He glances down the road and sees the flashing of the emergency vehicles rapidly approaching. When Mabel goes still he checks her pulse and frowns, "Out of the way," Ford exclaims in alarm, rolling her onto her back and starting chest compressions again. He continues the CPR right until the moment the paramedics arrive to take over.

After that everything is a blur for Dipper, who watches helplessly in a dazed fog as the paramedics fight to save his sister's life. He can tell based on the urgency that they move and communicate that her condition is life threatening and critical. Meanwhile firefighters are heading into the mansion to fight the fire that's spread to the main floor, smoke and flames peeking through the boarded-up windows, there's a young, female officer asking questions he's in too much of a daze to understand while another paramedic starts looking him over.

"Can you tell me what happened?" the officer asks.

Overwhelmed, the question barely registers, nothing really registers as he watches Mabel get placed on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance which rushes away from the scene, sirens wailing, moving frighteningly fast. The paramedic looking after him asks him a question, shining a light into his eyes, a blinding white light which pulls him out of his shock and throws him into a panic.

"Hey," the paramedic says, urging the officer to back off, "kid, take it easy. You need to calm down, OK?"

But Dipper can't help it as he draws in quick breaths, each inhale and exhale agony on his battered ribcage. It hurts like hell and is making him lightheaded, his aching head spinning. He tries to control his breathing, but he can't, it hurts too much and Mabel…what if she…? He can't even bear to finish the thought.

Meanwhile, voices, accompanied by the memory of Mabel's haunting and broken screams of agony, echo in his mind, drowning out the cacophony of the chaos surrounding him.

 _You fools! What have you done? You've only cursed us both!_

 _Why did you leave me here? In this hell?...The torture never stops!_

 _Eenie…meanie…miney…_

Dipper's eyes roll back, his battered body goes limp and the world goes silent.

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think, good or bad. As always, I would love to hear any thoughts, theories, predictions and criticisms you may have, but even if you just want to say hi, that's OK too. I like to know who's reading this and your comments mean so much to me.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N OK, so I didn't reach my Halloween deadline. I've been really sick and school has been too crazy to keep up but what can you do? Because I tend to underestimate myself, despite what I said a couple of chapters ago, this ISN'T the last chapter. I realized I had too much to put into just two chapters so there's still one more.

Thanks to my reviewers!

athenoodle: Thank you for the review! I'm glad you like it and that it gave you goosebumps!

Angelwings2002: Totally read that in Stan's voice for some reason. Thank you for the review!

Imissgf: Don't worry, this isn't the last chapter! One more after this one though. Thanks as always for the reviews!

Ice Beagle: No don't jump into the bottomless pit! Sorry, not sorry to darken your day, lol. I hope you like this next chapter!

Gravityfan17: Glad you like Stan's cover story, it may or may not become important later. Happy that the last chapter was your favourite, I actually had a lot of fun writing it. Thanks for the review!

Ghostlyfantastic: Thanks as always for the review, makes me happy. I hope that this chapter meets your expectations and doesn't disappoint. I hope you didn't read this in a library if you screamed 3 times, you might've gotten weird looks! Thank you for your patience. It helped me not feel so bad about missing my deadline actually, because RL has been kinda overwhelming.

Guest (Oct 16): Thanks I'm glad you like it!

Guest (Oct 17): Hi! I'm glad you stopped to say hello and I'm happy you like my story!

This chapter was so hard to write and it's really long (possibly the longest chapter yet) I rewrote a lot of scenes a few times. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter Seventeen**

When Dipper opens his eyes he's groggy and disoriented, only really aware of the fact that his everything hurts, especially his arm and his head. But it's a dull ache, and his head is fuzzy, his mouth tastes like cotton, his stomach rolls from hunger. He's not sure where he is, but the world around him is no longer dark or bathed in candlelight, instead everything is bright and he squints painfully at the light. He blinks a few times, and turns his head to see Ford sitting next to him in a chair, reading.

It's then that it registers that he's lying in a hospital bed, his arm in a cast that goes past his elbow, a sling keeping his arm in place. There's an IV in his other hand and a clip on his finger, monitoring his vitals and he reaches for his aching head, finding that it's wrapped in a bandage. For a split second he's confused about why he's there, but then he remembers.

He clears his throat and groans, "Grunkle Ford?"

Ford looks up, "Dipper, hey. Good to see you awake. You had us so worried when you passed out last night, how are you feeling?"

"How's Mabel?"

"She's alive. She's in the ICU, your parents are with her now."

"She gonna be OK?"

Ford sighs, "Hard to say, she's not out of the woods yet, though. We're waiting for a few test results and there's still more tests that they need to do."

"I want to see her," Dipper says, pushing himself up but a sharp pain in his ribcage steals his breath and he collapses back into his pillow.

"Whoa, take it easy," Ford motions him to stay lying down, "you've been through a lot. You need rest. You've got two cracked ribs, some deep bruising that we're a little concerned about, a concussion and some stitches in your forehead, not to mention that arm of yours, it was a bad break you know. But, considering everything you've gone through, it could've been worse. But you still need to take it easy."

"I need to see Mabel," Dipper says, not caring about his injuries. He's not the one who was literally at death's door, until he knows Mabel is OK, or at least going to be, nothing else matters.

"Dipper…you just woke up. We'll see what we can do about you seeing Mabel, but right now they're only letting your parents in while she's in ICU. Besides, you need to focus on getting better and that means getting rest."

"I can't until I know Mabel is going to be OK."

"Dipper," Ford says carefully, "It's going to be a while until we find out either way, but honestly, right now? No news is good news, means there's still hope."

Dipper nods, but he stares blankly ahead, tears welling in his eyes.

"The fact that she's still alive after everything she's endured shows she's already beaten so many odds."

"I need to see her."

"I get it," Ford says, "believe me, and as soon as they'll allow it, we're taking you to see her."

"Where's Stan?"

"He went to ICU to see if there are any updates on Mabel's condition," Ford says, "he should be here soon."

Dipper nods and they sit in silence a few minutes. A nurse comes in to check on him and upon finding out he's awake and coherent, a young female officer and a man in a black suit enter.

Ford meets them at the doorway, blocking their path into the room, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Agent Anderson with the FBI," the man says, "and this is Officer Brennan, Piedmont PD. We heard the kid is awake and coherent. Is he up to answering a few questions?"

"FBI?" Ford asks, alarmed, nudging them into the hall, out of Dipper's earshot. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you involved in this case?"

Anderson keeps his expression neutral, "Couple of weeks ago a girl's body was found with marks on her skin that are very similar to some of the ones found on Mabel Pines. Think they're connected."

"Wait…another case?" Ford frowns, "What…"

"That information's confidential, sir," Anderson replies, "all on a need to know basis and you don't need to know at this time. Could you excuse us?"

Ford opens and closes his mouth, dumbfounded. He sighs and steps aside, letting them into Dipper's room. "These guys have some questions, are you up to it?"

Dipper shrugs, giving a slight nod, "Um, I guess so?"

Ford waits a moment but then Anderson glances his way, "If it's all right, we'd like to talk to him privately."

"Right," Ford nods, "Will you be OK?"

"Yeah," Dipper replies, "but when I'm done here, can I see Mabel?"

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't make any promises," Ford says with a sigh. He gives Dipper a reassuring look and leaves. As he gets out into the hall he sees Stan heading his way. "Any news?" Ford asks.

"Well, the good news is that the Scan showed brain activity, so at least we know there's no brain death, but what it does show isn't normal," Stan sighs, "and the bad news is she's still on life support, she's unable to breathe on her own, and they're worried that if she wakes up she…" he pauses, getting a little emotional.

"She won't be Mabel anymore," Ford says, fearing the same thing. She had been dead for a few minutes, which means a few minutes where her brain and body wasn't getting oxygen. The chances of serious and permanent damage would be high. Is that what Elizabeth meant by her last words?

"They can't say when or even if she'll wake up…Ford, she's in such bad shape. They're worried about the damage the torture has done to her heart and they said the prolonged lack of oxygen has caused her body to start shutting down and…it's bad. Did you know she was poisoned?"

"Poisoned?"

"They're still not sure with what but it's caused a lot of damage inside," Stan's voice breaks, "th-they said it's a miracle that she's still alive at all and…even if she survives..."

"I know," Ford replies, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder, a list of potential complications and challenges running through his head, "I know."

"Dipper awake?" Stan asks.

Ford nods, "Yeah, he's giving his statement to the authorities right now."

"What do we tell him?" Stan releases a shaky breath, "Kid's gonna be devastated..."

"We tell him not to give up hope," Ford replies, "the outlook isn't good, but…there's still a chance. If anyone's going to defy the odds, it's Mabel."

Stan nods, but he's clearly distraught.

"Stanley, I need to tell you something," Ford says. When Stan silently urges him to continue he says in a hushed tone, "There's an FBI Agent in there." Stan tenses, "I don't think it's because of you, he didn't elaborate but he says he's on the case because there was another girl found a few weeks ago with similar markings to the ones on Mabel."

"What?" Stan exclaims, "But…how? Where?"

"Don't know, but that's something we need to investigate," Ford replies, "it might be a remarkable coincidence but more likely it's…you-know-what related."

"Shit," Stan mutters, running his hand down his face and sitting heavily in one of the chairs in the hallway, exhausted. Another consequence of Weirdmageddon. The near cataclysmic event two months ago left its scars, most notably the emotional trauma they and the citizens of Gravity Falls have had to deal with; but also Stan's memory issues and subsequent micro-blackouts, and maybe a little bit more paranormal activity than usual, but nothing they couldn't handle.

At first, Stan loved the adventure of going and investigating these paranormal anomalies and whatnot. It gave him a new purpose and helped his dream of sailing the world with his brother come true. They had spent a month at sea and a month on land fighting monsters, helping people deal with haunted houses and other oddities. At first Stan loved it, but now he's just tired.

Somewhere out there a girl is dead and it might be related to Weirdmageddon? How many more casualties are there that they don't know about? He and Ford played a part in making Weirdmageddon happen, and while they both agreed that it wasn't their fault, because that stupid triangle's the one who's really to blame, cleaning up the mess is still their responsibility. If Mabel is added to the list of casualties, Stan doesn't think he could ever forgive himself. It's probably his fault that she and Dipper went into the mansion in the first place, though he still for the life of him doesn't remember telling then to investigate on their own.

"I'm sorry," Stan murmurs, "this…this was my fault."

"Because of that phone call?" Ford asks, and the he sighs, "I'm sorry for getting so furious with you earlier; you said you told them to stay away, and I believe you. They went inside because of a family curse, and some curses of that nature find a way to happen no matter what anyone does to prevent it."

Stan nods, bowing his head, afraid to tell him the truth about how he can't even remember the conversation. Ford doesn't know he sometimes has lapses in his memory, they normally only last a couple of seconds give or take, so it hasn't really been much of a problem until now, but he doesn't want Ford to worry or worse, use him for _research._ But Ford's probably right, it must've been the curse that made him either say the wrong thing or for Dipper to hear the wrong thing. Doesn't make him feel any less responsible.

"What do you think she meant?" Ford asks suddenly, after a brief silence.

"Huh?"

"Elizabeth Hartwell," Ford clarifies, "before she disappeared."

Stan shakes his head, "About us cursing them both? No idea. Not sure I want to think about it." He pauses, "Why? What do _you_ think she meant?"

"Honestly? I don't know," Ford sighs, "I wish I knew more about that spell, then maybe I could figure out what exactly happened and if I can find out everything, maybe…maybe I could use that information to help Mabel. Right now though, I'm concerned that we might've made a mistake interfering."

"What? Are you crazy?" Stan hisses, "Mabel's alive because we stopped her. Yeah, it's bad and she might not make it, but she has a chance because of us and if anyone's going to pull through its her. If we didn't stop that ghost bitch, Mabel… she wouldn't be here right now."

"True, but…I'm afraid we might've inadvertently made it worse," Ford replies, "we don't know what happened, for all we know that strange blast might've…I don't know. But how do we know that it's over? How do we know that what happened wasn't exactly what Elizabeth wanted to happen, how do we know that the wrong soul isn't in Mabel's body?"

"We don't, I guess," Stan whispers, tears welling in his eyes, "not until she wakes up."

" _If_ she wakes up."

"She will, and she's going to be _fine._ " His voice breaks a little on the word 'fine'.

"I hope you're right, Stanley."

"Me too."

-/o\-

The whole day is spent waiting it seems. Waiting and sleeping, thanks to the painkillers in his system, making him perpetually drowsy and his head a little foggy. As the day progresses Dipper becomes more and more anxious to see Mabel. Eventually his dad comes to see him and throughout the day his parents take turns so at least one parent would be with Mabel and the other with Dipper.

They don't tell him much about her condition, no one does and it's driving him crazy. All they tell him is to get some rest and not to lose hope. But the more they tell him that, the more worried he gets. If she's OK, they wouldn't be so frustratingly vague and if she's going to be OK, then why haven't they said so? Ford had already let it slip that it's possible she won't wake up when they were still at the mansion, so there's no point trying to sugar coat things.

Are they trying to protect him? Are they punishing him? It would make sense, he _did_ drag Mabel along to the mansion, she wanted to go trick or treating and everyone knows that. Everyone knows that exploring spooky old mansions is more his thing and not Mabel's.

He suspects their mother blames him, though she won't say it. When it was her turn to visit him, while she was clearly happy he was awake and more or less OK, she seemed off. Distant. Like she was mad at him but didn't want to admit it. It could've been worry for Mabel, but she had made it clear how she felt about his obsession with the paranormal, she hated and discouraged it, and now her feelings are validated. But if she blames him, he understands, he'll accept that because he blames himself too, to a point anyway. Maybe if he didn't take Mabel along, maybe if he did a better job protecting her, if he was better prepared…

Mabel would tell him to stop that train of thought. She had already said that more than once back at the mansion. And maybe she's right, just like he knows he's right about how she shouldn't feel responsible for Weirdmageddon. But letting go of the guilt is easier said than done.

He _needs_ to see her. He _needs_ to know what's going on. He already knows it's bad, but it's not right to keep him from seeing her, she's his _twin._ He should be allowed to see her, and if she's… _dying_ , then keeping him away from her is something unforgivable.

Besides, there's something he needs to do, something he needs to try. It might be a long shot, and maybe he's crazy but…if anyone can tell him if Mabel will be OK, it's Mabel.

He doesn't know if it's because of something Elizabeth had done or something else, but back at the mansion, there were a few times that it seemed Mabel could read his mind, and sometimes he could've sworn he heard her voice in his head in a weird, abstract way. They never had twin telepathy before, but maybe, for whatever reason, something changed and now they do? If he can just see her, find out for sure…

Whatever painkillers he's been dosed with has him drowsy and dosing off for most of the day, and while the much-needed rest is fortunately dreamless, sometimes he would wake up with a strong, uneasy feeling that there's something they missed, something wrong. He tries to ignore it, but there's a nagging concern in the back of his mind that only adds to his anxiety about Mabel.

What exactly did Elizabeth mean when she said they had cursed them both?

Elizabeth's spell had _killed_ Mabel. Sure, for only a few minutes, but still, she had been technically dead. She wasn't breathing, she was in full cardiac arrest, what if when she died her soul became trapped in the mansion? What if Elizabeth is also still trapped in the mansion with her? Or what if when Ford revived her, it wasn't Mabel's soul that was brought back, but Elizabeth's? What if they didn't stop the spell in time and Elizabeth still managed to win?

In his heart, Dipper refuses to believe that to be true, but he can't help but worry about the possibility. He _needs_ to see Mabel. He needs to see for himself that she's alive, that she'll be OK and maybe when he sees her he can confirm that it's still her. Even if the weird twin telepathy thing they had was temporary, simply a result of whatever Elizabeth had done to Mabel when she was tricked into a deal, Dipper would like to think that if he sees her, he'll somehow _know_.

So, it's frustrating when he begs to see her and everyone tells him that he can't right now. They tell him he needs his rest, but he's been resting all day and he _can't_ rest with so much on his mind to worry about. Maybe if they didn't sugar coat everything and purposely remain so vague about her condition it would make him feel slightly better, because right now, these vague answers are only making him assume the worst. Dipper deserves the truth, even if that truth isn't something he wants to hear, as Mabel's twin, he deserves to know.

Later that evening, while his parents have gone out to get something to eat and get some of Dipper and Mabel's belongings for their stay, and Ford is out 'taking care of some things' leaving Stan to keep Dipper company, he finally snaps, stating just that.

"Why won't anyone let me see her? Why won't anyone say anything? I _deserve_ to know!" Dipper rants, "I'm her twin, why can't I see her? Is it _that_ bad?"

Stan sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, because they've been over it again and again and it's giving him a headache, "Kid, like I said, we still don't know much, and the rules about visitors in ICU are strict. Ford and I haven't seen her either because we're not imm…."

"Immediate family? I'm her _twin_!" he hisses.

"And you're a minor, there's rules about that too. And you're injured, I'm not sure if your doctor…"

"I don't care, they should make an exception. It's not right keeping me away from her. Do you have any idea how _hard_ it is to…"

"Excuse me a minute," Stan interrupts, holding up a finger, stepping out of the room. Dipper wants to call after him, indignant about how he would just interrupt him and walk out like that. But then Stan returns pushing an empty wheelchair, "Get in."

"What?"

"Get in the chair."

"I can walk…"

"Yeah, I know but I'm going to get in enough trouble as it is sneaking you into the ICU, if you were to fall and hurt yourself on my watch…"

"Wait, you're going to take me to Mabel?"

"Yep."

"Really?"

"Look, I know what you were going to say," Stan says, helping Dipper sit up and get into the chair. It hurts to move, his broken ribs protesting any position but lying down, making Dipper secretly relieved to have the chair after all. Stan continues, "And yes, I _do_ have an idea of how hard this is for you. To be separated from your twin, knowing they're in trouble? I know how helpless you feel and I know how important it is for you to see with your own two eyes that Mabel's still with us. I know how traumatizing last night was for you, I don't think your parents understand, they think they're helping but they don't get it. So, we gotta go now, before they come back."

"Mom and dad are the ones who don't want me to see her?" Dipper bristles with anger at the thought. So they _are_ punishing him then?

Stan sighs, "They mean well."

"How?" Dipper snaps.

"Look, kid…it doesn't look good right now, OK? They wanted to wait until you were released and they knew more about her condition. The truth is, we don't really know much yet. And seeing her…it might be a bit of a shock, so you need to be prepared."

Dipper swallows, "I know it's bad. I'll be OK."

"I know."

Stan takes him into a room with six beds, two of them are empty, two are clearly occupied but for whatever reason the patients are not there, one has an old man sleeping, looking like he's not long for the world, and the last one, the one by the window in the back corner is partially hidden by a privacy curtain. Mabel. Dipper holds his breath as they get closer and his sister comes into view.

Mabel looks so small and frail, her skin, where it's not bruised or bandaged is so pale it's almost grey. There's tubes and wires everywhere. A tube down her throat connected to a ventilator that hisses and whooshes in a slow, steady rhythm, a feeding tube in her nose, an IV lead giving her a transfusion, another giving her what Dipper assumes is medicine. Her wrists are bandaged and there's a heavy bandage around the wound on her hand, and another on her forehead. There are wires that disappear under her blanket and gown, there's some attached to her temples, and they connect to a variety of machines that Dipper has no idea what they're for. He knows one is to monitor her vitals, and he's unnerved by the irregular rhythm of her heartbeat.

"Wh-what…what do you know?" Dipper asks, breathless as he reaches out for her, resting his hand on her arm, alarmed by how _cold_ her skin feels. "Wh-what have they said so far? Do they know yet when she'll wake up?"

"No, they don't know. They've run a ton of tests, and so far, they haven't seen any changes for better or worse. She's not out of the woods yet and they're doing everything they can to help her make it through the night but if they don't see any improvements by morning, well…the more time passes without signs of improvement, the less optimistic they are about her prognosis."

"Mabel's strong…"

"That she is but…" Stan sighs, this is the first time he's seen Mabel too and he too is shocked by the sight of her and is having a hard time processing the sight. "Even if she pulls through this hurdle…the damage is most likely permanent. She's got a long road ahead of her."

"What do you mean?"

"Her heart stopped, she was in full cardiac arrest, her heart is…but they hope that because she's young and had been healthy prior to the attack, that with medication…maybe she won't need surgery…"

"Heart surgery?"

Stan nods, "It's a possibility, but right now she's not stable enough for that and again, they're trying to prevent that, at least for now." Stan runs his fingers through his hair, distressed. When he closes his eyes, he can still see the evil ghost reaching into Mabel's head and into her heart and he can still hear Mabel's unearthly howls of agony. What did that ghost-bitch do to his niece? "And she went without oxygen for a long time, and it's caused…damage to her brain. They don't know the extent of it, and we won't know until she wakes up how it will affect her. It might be minimal, and she might recover and have a relatively normal life, but there might be complications. Heck, it's possible she might even wake up an entirely different person."

Dipper swallows hard, "Elizabeth."

"Now Dipper…"

"Do we even know if we stopped her in time?" he whispers, "What if this is all part of her plan? What if this isn't Mabel at all, what if this _is_ Elizabeth and she's counting on us thinking it's some stupid bullshit brain injury that will explain if she's acting different?"

Stan doesn't want to say that he and Ford both have those concerns, but that's yet another thing that they just don't know. "I think Elizabeth's gone, Dipper," Stan says, hoping he's right, "If she succeeded I don't think Mabel would be in such bad condition. I don't know what was supposed to happen, but I doubt she would've hurt her so badly if she wasn't planning on healing her body once she took over."

"But what if that's what she meant? About how they're both cursed? We don't know what happened, just that something went wrong. What if that was part of the plan but that's the part that failed?"

Yet another concern pressing on his and Ford's mind. But he just says, "You're overthinking it, kid. She failed, she failed because she took it too far and her chosen vessel died before she could finish her spell, and by some miracle we got Mabel back anyway. Your sister is strong, if anyone's going to pull through this, it's her."

"Well," Dipper murmurs, tears blurring his vision, "assuming this really is Mabel, she's not going to have to do this alone. No matter how long it takes, I'm going to do everything in my power to help her get better. I've got her back, no matter what kind of…challenges she might have to face."

Stan smiles, wiping away a tear, "I know. And I've got yours too, both of you, don't ever forget that."

"Thanks," Dipper chokes out.

"You know, Ford says that it's been proven that coma patients can hear what's going on around them," Stan offers, "talk to her. Who knows, I'm willing to bet she's been looking forward to hearing your voice as much as you were anxious to see her."

"OK. Can you…give us a minute?" Dipper asks.

"Sure thing, kid," Stan agrees, giving him a pat on the back and then taking a moment to give Mabel's shoulder a gentle squeeze before seeing himself out, pulling the curtain around them to give them privacy.

Once alone, Dipper whispers quietly, "Mabel? Are you in there? Can you hear me?" He pauses, but the only sounds are the irregular beep of the heart monitor and the steady whoosh of the ventilator pumping air into her lungs. "It may sound crazy, but… back at the mansion, I thought I heard your voice in my head. I know we've never really had twin telepathy before, but something must've changed, because I know you heard my thoughts too. So, if you're in there, can you…I don't know, say something? Give me a sign?"

 _Come on, Mabel. Please, are you in there?_ He thinks as loud as he can, _Are you OK?_

He waits with bated breath, hoping for something to happen, but nothing does.

 _Mabel, come on, I know you sometimes heard my thoughts back at the mansion, please if you can hear me now…please!_

Nothing.

Dipper sighs, giving up. Feeling a little stupid. He's not sure exactly what he's expecting to happen, but he had hoped that there would be _something._ But whatever weird twin telepathy thing that happened, it was because of the mansion, because of Elizabeth. For all he knows it was temporary. For all he knows he's speaking to an empty vessel. For all he knows, Mabel's soul is still trapped in the mansion, suffering Elizabeth's wrath. He doesn't know, and he hates it.

"Come on, Mabel, _please_ ," he begs, his voice breaking, "wake up. I need you to wake up. I need you to…to be you. I need to know it's you, that you're in there and that you're going to be OK…please. Please wake up, I know it's hard, but please…"

Nothing.

He gives her arm a gentle squeeze, "OK, maybe it's too soon. But I'm here, OK? I'm here and when you're ready to wake up, I will be here for you, even if I can't physically be _here._ Apparently, I'm not allowed to see you while you're in here in the ICU, isn't that stupid? But that doesn't matter, because I'm going to fight for you, you just gotta promise that you'll fight to hang on and get better. And whatever you need to do to get better, I'm with you every step of the way. You're not alone, and we are not going to let her win, understand? Do you hear me?"

 _I'm going to save you._

Hating how cold Mabel is, Dipper eases out of his chair, gingerly avoiding any sudden movement to aggravate his injuries and grabs a blanket draped over one of the chairs beside her bed and awkwardly covers her with it. She already has a thin blanket, but he doesn't think it's enough, and while it hurts to move and it's hard to tuck her in with one functioning arm that's still tethered to an IV, he takes grim satisfaction in knowing that, even though it isn't much, at least he's able to do _something_ to help her. The area surrounding her is a little drafty and he shivers a little from the cool air.

Dipper stays by Mabel's side until one of the ICU nurses find him and tell him he's not supposed to be there and that he needs to go back to his room and get some rest. "I have to go, but I'm not going far, OK? I'll be back as soon as I can," Dipper says, "you just have to promise that you'll be here when I get back, OK? Promise?"

There's no response, no change, not even a flicker of her bruised eyelids, nothing to indicate that Mabel's even there, aside from the machines keeping her body alive.

As the nurse wheels him out of the ICU he notices the temperature get noticeably warmer as he leaves Mabel's little area of the unit. He glances behind him, wondering.

-/o\-

Dipper's released from the hospital the following evening, but he's told to take it easy and rest, nurse his concussion and some of the more serious bruises. Stan and Ford agree to stay and look after him during the day while their parents stay at the hospital with Mabel. Dipper hates being stuck at home, away from Mabel, but everyone tells him that he's better off staying home while he recovers. Besides, while Mabel's in the ICU he's still not allowed to see her anyway, unless she were to take a dramatic turn for the worse, meaning he wouldn't be able to see her unless she was actually dying.

But there's no significant change in her condition either way. Not the next day or the day after that or the day after that. He's told again that no news is good news, and that if that's the case he should be glad they're not making an exception for him because they'd only make an exception if it's really, really bad. Still, the separation drives him crazy, and he can't stop thinking about Elizabeth's final words, about how cold Mabel was, and just how wrong it is for her to be in such bad condition and how he just wants her to wake up and get better.

On Sunday, four days after their ordeal, Mabel is moved into a private room where visiting rules are more relaxed and Dipper, Stan and Ford are finally allowed to see her.

When he sees Mabel again, Dipper is shocked by how much she seems to have deteriorated since he last saw her. It had only been four days, but she's thinner, paler, her thick lustrous hair is dry and dull, the bruises around her neck and on her arms and face appear darker. She's still on the ventilator and hooked up to so many machines they make her look so small and frail, and she's completely unresponsive to the activity surrounding her.

He sits next to her and places his hand on her arm, "Hey," he whispers, "I'm back like I promised. You going to wake up now, sis?"

 _Are you in there? Are you...you? Can you hear me?_

Nothing.

He breaks down in sobs and barely notices his parents holding him and comforting him. It hurts to cry, the broken bones and deep bruises rattling with each sob, but the pain hardly registers. He's just so overwhelmed by the unfairness of it all.

Mabel doesn't deserve this, and part of the reason she agreed to surrender to Elizabeth in the first place is because she seemed to think she does. The other part was to protect him, which also isn't fair. It's not right how Elizabeth got into her head and manipulated her into believing that making a deal was the only way to redeem herself from her misplaced guilt over Weirdmageddon and to save him from her wrath. It's not right that she had to endure so much torture to the point of death, and it's not right that she has to be lying there, alive yet lifeless, facing either eternal slumber or more pain and more challenges on her path to recovery—if she can even recover.

Despite his worry and the nagging doubts in his mind about whether Mabel is even there or if her soul is still trapped in the mansion, he had wanted to believe that Mabel would somehow be strong enough to persevere and beat the odds. But now, four days later with no significant change, it's almost impossible to hold onto any hope.

 _Mabel if you're in there, please hear me. Please. Give me a sign that you're there, anything!_

But again, there's nothing.

Everyone decides to give him some privacy and he's only vaguely aware of them leaving the room. But once it registers that they're alone, he wipes the tears from his eyes and whispers, "I don't know what to do, Mabel. You gotta wake up. You gotta get better or… I'm not sure what I'll do. I can't lose you. Not like this, not after all we've been through this summer, not after we helped stop Weirdmageddon."

He shivers, cold. Mabel is so cold it practically radiates off her. However her body temperature is apparently normal, albeit lower than the average. It again, makes him wonder. Is there a draft? Is there a logical explanation or is it something else? Maybe he's making a big deal out of nothing because no one else seems to notice or question it. But with so much uncertainty, about Mabel's condition, about what exactly happened back in that secret room of the mansion, and what Elizabeth meant with her last words, Dipper has had a lot of time to think. To wonder, worry and theorize. What exactly happened when Elizabeth's spell went wrong? He has no idea, and neither do Stan and Ford. But he has a few unsettling theories.

He has to check something, he has to make sure.

He reaches into his backpack and shuffles through some of the school books he brought to get caught up on homework to prepare to go back to school on Tuesday. He doesn't want to go back until Mabel's awake, but their parents aren't giving him much choice in the matter. Hidden under the books is a compact EMF type device he 'borrowed' from Ford. He turns it on and holds the meter up and scans the room. When he hovers it over Mabel, he sucks in a breath as the meter fluctuates, the numbers spiking ever so slightly. Not enough to signify an entity or anything like that, but enough to indicate that there is some sort of anomaly surrounding her.

In a weird way, that gives him hope. Maybe if he figures out what this anomaly is, he can fix whatever is keeping her from waking up and getting better.

"If you can't wake up, maybe there _is_ something I can do," he whispers, "whatever it takes, I'm going to save you, OK?"

He just needs a plan.

He needs to go back to the mansion.

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading! Thoughts, theories, predictions, criticisms? I'd love to know what you think! Or you know, just say I, either way I would love to hear from you! I know that some of you had wondered about their parents, at first I wanted to keep them 'off screen' like in the show, but that's becoming too difficult to maintain so I might scrap that idea and give them more of a presence but I'm still not sure. I hope that this chapter has started to wrap up a few things and that the next chapter will bring you a satisfying conclusion, but keep in mind that I am plotting out a sequel, so I would like to know your theories about that. I'm curious.


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